AFL NORTH Coast’s best juniors have wrapped up their summer development program with victory against Coolangatta teams.

Northern Heat representative teams beat the Coolangatta Blues as their development program wrapped up for the summer.

The Heat girls snuck home by one point against the Blues, winning 7.7 (49) to 7.6 (48) in their match at Coolangatta.
It is the first time the Heat program has had a girls team, with the victory coming in their first match.

The hard work the girls put in over the summer came to fruition in an exciting last quarter at Len Peak Oval.

Starting nervously, the Heat girls conceded the first four goals of the match.

Once they got into their stride however, they began to wrestle momentum their way.

At the last break the Heat girls trailed by 15 points but, armed with a fitness program they’d been completing since December, ran over the top of their opposition kicking four goals to grab a seven point lead.

The Blues produced one final effort to kick a goal and drag the margin back to one point with less than a minute to play, but the Heat girls marked their inaugural match with a win.

A dominant nine goals to one second half saw the Heat boys have a 12.9 (81) to 2.3 (15) win against the Blues.

The boys match started in the only rain of the day and despite dominating territory with strong clearance work and a high press, the Heat were inaccurate in front of goal.

Despite leading by 17 points at the first break, they didn’t get full value for their strong play.

The second term, played in drier conditions, saw Coolanagatta’s boys turn the contest into a strong battle and the Blues kept neck and neck with the Heat leading into the main interval.

After half time though the Heat showed a fitness edge and kicked nine goals to one in the second half including five goals to nil in the last term while kicking into the wind.

The Northern Heat representative AFL program comprises the best junior players from the North Coast and North West regions in Under 15 and Under 17 squads.

This off-season program exists to extend the representative pathway for the players of the regions and provide them with a further avenue to build their game ahead of transitioning towards senior footy.

By Aiden BURGESS