Tonight 14 young male Territorians with intellectual disabilities were presented with their playing guernseys ahead of their trip to Sydney to play in the 2019 AFL Inclusion Carnival.
This year’s NT inclusion team has five returning players alongside 11 debutants hailing from seven different NTFL clubs.
This year’s team is made up of players beyond Darwin, with seven players from Tiwi islands.
Congratulations to:
Peter Apuatimi
Ethan Bara
Bradin Baxter
Travis Baxter-Althouse
Joel Dhamarrandji
Kevin Isaac
Karlson Kantilla
Aaron Knight-Nilsson
Romone Lewin
Byron Mayo
Rex Puguatji
Albertus Puruntatameri
Ricky Puruntatameri
Brandon Redpath
Preyben Tipiloura
Ephrem Tipungwuti
Emergencies
Elijah Althouse
William Bain-Buckle
Keanu Fraser-Althouse
Joseph Kay
And special thanks to the volunteers who will travel with the team and he on hand to assist for the duration of the event:
Head Coach: Nick Eades
Assistant Coach: Coen McKinnon
Team Manager: Jason Bremner
Sports Trainer: Renee Elliott
In the AFL Inclusion Carnival’s short history, this is the first time the NT team will field a complete team, showing the growth and strength of inclusion football in the Territory.
NT Inclusion team coach and AFLNT game development manager Nick Eades said he was extremely proud of the team’s significant growth since its inauguration in 2017.
“I feel honoured to be able to lead the team for a third consecutive year, and the talent of new and returning players in to the side is exciting.
“We went down in a narrow loss to WA in the Division Two final last year and this year we are ready to make amends and will be striving to make it into the Division One pool to compete against the best of them,” Eades said.
Day 1 Lightning Carnival Tuesday 16 July
NT vs Vic Metro
NT vs QLD
NT vs Vic Country
Day 2 Lightning Carnival Wednesday 18 July
NT vs WA
NT vs Tas
NT vs NSW/ACT
Results from the first two lightning carnival days will determine the remaining carnival fixtures.
The 2019 National Inclusion Carnival fixture and the results throughout the week can be found here.
Keep up to date following AFLNT Facebook and Twitter accounts and by searching on the #AFLInclusion hashtag.