Sharks trio add bite
EIGHT former AFL players, three of them from the Southport Sharks, will form the backbone of a NEAFL side to play Tasmania in Hobart today.
Coached by QAFL Hall of Famer John Blair, current coach of Aspley, the NEAFL selection is a blend of AFL experience mixed in with some of the competition’s emerging youngsters.
The eight with AFL backgrounds are Southport trio Jack Anthony (Collingwood and Fremantle), Andrew Boston (Gold Coast Suns), Seb Tape (Suns), Xavier Richards (Sydney), Jack Hiscox (Sydney), Gavin Grose (Port Adelaide), Sam Martyn (Adelaide) and Sam Michael (Brisbane and Essendon).
Despite the experience in the line-up, the average age of the side is just 23 years and 20 of the squad’s 25 players are homegrown talent who have come through the junior talent pathways in their respective states and territories.
Nine players in the squad are below 23, as a number of the NEAFL’s young talented prospects aim to put their hand up for AFL draft selection.
Many stars of the competition, including last year’s NEAFL most valuable player runner-up Jordan Harper and leader of this year’s award, Southport’s Jordan Keras, highlight a strong squad.
Blair said he was looking forward to seeing what the new side could produce two years after the NEAFL’s historic first representative win against Tasmania.
“We’ve had great buy-in from the squad which has been selected,” Blair told the NEAFL website.