Top talent … The AFL Victoria Metropolitan Junior Championships will feature some of the state’s best young footy talent. 65304
By Michael Esposito
THE West’s best young footy talent will be on show when the AFL Victoria Metropolitan Junior Championships kick off tomorrow.
The championships, for under-14 and under-15 metro league representative teams, will serve as on method of identifying talent for TAC Cup teams.
For the WRFL players, an impressive interleague campaign could lead to an invitation to train with the Jets and try out for the under-16 Brad Johnson squad.
WRFL under-15 Division One interleague coach Rod Lawson and under-14 Division One coach Gary Brennan both have coaching support roles at the Jets.
Tim Shellcot, the WRFL’s club development and operations officer, said the interleague squad was as much about rewarding juniors for their performance this season as it was providing a pathway to elite competition.
The challenge, he said, was getting the selection process right.
“There’s only four or five training sessions to assess the kids,” Shellcot said.
“We do trust the clubs to send along their talented kids. The majority of coaches in those (interleague) squads are working as talent scouts for the Western Jets so they do get out and about on a Sunday to the WRFL junior footy. So that makes it a little bit easier to make sure none of those kids slip through the cracks.”
Under-16 and under-18 squads will also play interleague matches. The WRFL under-18s will play RDFL under lights at Avalon Airport Oval on 7 June, and will take on EDFL at Deer Park Football Club at 8pm on 10 June. The games will follow under-16 games that start at 6pm.
