THE North Coast’s best junior Australian Rules players have been selected to represent their region in their representative squads.

The North Coast Force’s representative teams have been named in the under 13s, under 15s, under 17s, and Youth Girls 17 age groups.

These teams will compete in the Hunter Challenge Cup on the June long weekend, and in the Northern NSW Championships in Coffs Harbour from 11-13 July.

Record numbers participating in the selection process sees the North Coast Force in the enviable position of announcing some of the strongest teams in recent history.

Community Football Manager Paul Taylor said that the response has been overwhelming considering the significant problems posed by recent rainfall.

“The combination of the partnership with the Sydney Swans Academy and the heavily disrupted representative seasons over the past two years appears to have made players keener than ever to be involved in the North Coast Force program,” he said.

“Our Force program had built some great momentum prior to the disruptions caused by the pandemic and, with the talented players that we’ve selected, we’ve got the chance to pick right up where we left off.

“Half of our program is about how we perform at the carnivals, but the other half is helping individuals to develop as players and hopefully seeing a number of them progress through the Sydney Swans Academy pathway.”

In another great sign for the popularity of representative footy, the North Coast Force will field its first ever Youth Girls 13 team at the Northern NSW Championships in Coffs Harbour.

Taylor was overwhelmed with the response to girls trialling for representative selection.

“We were overwhelmed with the number of girls who trialled for the Under 13 team, despite the fact that our new club competition for Under 14 girls hasn’t started yet,” he said.

“We’ve offered nine girls the chance to form a train-on squad that will become the base for our Youth Girls 13 rep team and will hold another trial specifically to round out this team once the local club competition is underway and girls who are new to the sport have had a chance to realise that they want to be involved in rep footy.”

 

By Aiden BURGESS