U18 team to take on Tassie in first match of 2016 NAB AFL National Championships announced
Wednesday May 4 2016
The AFLNT Thunder U18 State Academy has announced the squad to play Tasmania in the first match of the 2016 NAB AFL National Championships on Friday 5th May at TIO Stadium.
After fighting off a fast-finishing Oakleigh Chargers to win by five points in the last of their TAC Cup development matches on Saturday, Thunder’s focus quickly shifts to this week’s battle.
State Academy Development coach Andrew Hodges said he is pleased with the whole team’s approach following their win against the Chargers in Melbourne last week.
“Playing against quality TAC Cup sides was a great warm up for our boys leading in to the Nationals and we are pleased with how they have conducted themselves on and off the field,” Hodges said. “From a team perspective, there are certain areas of our game that we know we could do better in so we’ve tailored our training this week to suit those.
“Our policy has seen all 40 players in the AFLNT State Academy program play at least one game in the lead up to this match which has made the task of choosing a squad all the more difficult. We have a few players coming in this week in Daly Shannon, Michael Hagan, Ben Long, Brandon Parfitt, and Dominic Grant. Daly has overcome stress fractures in his back and has trained well in the lead up to this game.
“We are also looking for Centralian Jamie Hampton to continue his good run of form from the TAC Cup,” Hodges said.
The first match of the 2016 NAB AFL U18 Championships kicks off this Friday 6 May at 6.30pm against Tasmania at TIO Stadium.
NT THUNDER GAME 1 vs TASMANIA
BACKS: 25. Nigel LOCKYER 15. Lauchlan McKENZIE 11. Josh O’BRIEN
HALF BACKS: 24. Jamie HAMPTON 12. Patrick TABAN 2. Ben LONG
CENTRES: 1. Michael HAGAN 5. Brandan PARFITT 8. Rohan ARMSTRONG
HALF FORWARDS: 23. Matthew BRICKNELL 16. Ezekiel FRANK 27 Daly SHANNON
FORWARDS 19. Isaiah FARREL-NELSON 35. Jordan JEFFREY 17. Dominic GRANT
RUCK: 32 Tony OLANGO 33. Mckenzie LAWRENCE 10. Xavier CUBILLO
INTERCHANGE: 15. Keenan WATERBURY 29. Ankin ABBOTT 31. Leslie MARONEY
30. Marcus VALASTRO 22. Marcus TOTHAM 14. Kevin MARONEY
20. Liam MCDONALD
Any media wishing to speak to players, coaches or administration are encouraged to set up times with Nadine Rabah, AFLNT Media Manager.