Youths get tick in new format
THE AFL says it is content with the youthful nature of the AFLX sides named for its grand experiment as North Melbourne yesterday bucked the trend.
Most of the dozen AFLX sides named this week have consisted of youngsters and depth players for the trio of round-robin contests.
AFLX project manager David Stevenson said yesterday the league still expected crowds of up to 10,000 despite the modest sides.
Friday’s contest will pit six Melbourne teams against each other in a round robin contest with a Grand Final between the pool winners.
The league will be thrilled with North Melbourne’s attitude for Friday’s round-robin at Etihad Stadium after they named a squad with plentiful senior experience.
Shaun Higgins and Jamie McMillan will co-captain a team that also includes Shaun Higgins, Ben Cunnington, Luke McDonald, Billy Hartung and 35-year-old Jarrad Waite.
Carlton will showcase top-10 draft picks Paddy Dow and Lochie O’Brien as well as recruits Matt Kennedy, Cam O’Shea and Matthew Lobbe.
Hawthorn has named Jack Gunston, Luke Breust, Ryan Shoenmakers and Liam Shiels, while Melbourne made Tom McDonald and Christian Petracca available.
St Kilda’s side has senior players including Seb Ross, 31year-old Sam Gilbert, Koby Stevens and Lachie Weller.
Essendon’s side will feature David Zaharakis, Andrew McGrath, new recruit Adam Saad, Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti and midfielder Darcy Parish. Stevenson says AFLX was always going to feature a mixture of kids and established players.
The Roos were one of the first sides to trial the seven-aside game and clearly want to put on a show for their fans with a side also including draftee Luke Davies-Uniacke.
“We expected there would be some established stars but also some great up-and-coming talent,” Stevenson said.
“Generally speaking the older players will manage their workloads through the preseason but when you look at Tom Hawkins and Steele Sidebottom, you already have some mature players.
“Clubs have been really positive about the concept. We know they will make the decisions and we haven’t given them any special requests.”