FOOTBALL
By BLAKE METCALF-HOLT
VICTORIA Country held its second training camp of the early football season in Morwell recently.
From Wednesday (January 22) to Friday (January 24), the Morwell Recreation Reserve and Ronald Reserve, Morwell East featured around 50 young players from both Vic Country boys and girls squads, giving them an opportunity to experience the day-to-day efforts of a professional footballer.
The training camp included skills sessions, recovery at Gippsland Power’s Centre of Excellence facility, as well as visits from AFL club recruits during the Thursday session at Morwell East to give them their first glimpse at potential draftees.
Gippsland Power Boys Head Coach, Rhett McLennan is also heading up the Vic Country Boys program for the next two years, having been involved with the state side as an assistant/backline coach for the last five years.
Vic Country will have two practice matches after Easter and three to four games into the Coates Talent League season (Under 18 competition) against rival Victoria Metro before selections are finalised.
The announcement of the final squad will precede Vic Country’s first match of the Marsh Under 18s National Championship against Western Australia in June.
McLennan is excited to be involved with such a great group of young players, as they strive ahead in their final years of elite junior football.
“Really high-quality character kids, there’s no doubt about that, they really connected well and they want to do well, not just for themselves but for each other in the jumper which is great,” he said.
“We really see a lot of development over the next six to eight weeks to be honest, so they get back and start training with a high-volume load back at their Talent League clubs for the next six weeks and then they all come together and do some physical tests in Melbourne just before the season starts.
“(I’m) really hoping and expecting some of these guys to really jump up and have a really great start to the season and put their draft chances up early in the year.”
During the course of the week, many travelling Vic Country coaches and representatives praised the Gippsland Power and Morwell Football-Netball Club facilities as some of the best they’d trained at.
“We’re really lucky that we’ve got the best facilities outside of the AFL, that was due to the foresight of Peter Francis (former Gippsland Power Coach and Talent Manager) setting up the facility 13 years ago,” McLennan said.
“It really is the envy of every second tier football team in the country, so that’s Western Australia, South Australia and all around the country.
“We are extremely lucky in the way that we set it up and we need to thank Peter… it’s been a really good opportunity to actually showcase what we’ve got here in Gippsland.”
The Vic Country Boys squad also has a number of Gippsland players as it currently stands, with Mitchell Stevens (Heyfield), Willem Duursma (Foster), Xavier Ladbrook (Nar Nar Goon), Wil Malady (Bairnsdale), Zachary O’Keefe (Maffra) and Jobe Scapin (Inverloch-Kongwak).
The Vic Country Girls, coached by GWV Rebels’ Sally Riley, boasts such names as Ella Stoddart (Traralgon), Maya Crestani (Nar Nar Goon), Rebecca Fitzpatrick (Bunyip) and Abby Hobson (Pakenham) within the squad.
Vic Country’s first training camp was held at the Essendon FC High Performance Centre (NEC Hangar) from December 16 to 17 last year.
On a side note; Box Hill VFL also completed training at Morwell East that same week on the Sunday (January 26) as they build up to practice matches in February.
