Record numbers participating in the selection process sees the North Coast Force in the enviable position of announcing some of the strongest teams in recent history, with North Coast Academy Of Sport (NCAS) dominating the selections.
North Coast Force reveals team selections, with NCAS representing 3/4 of the U17 Girls, as well as two athletes making the train on squad.
NCAS athletes selected included Maddison Adams, Deja Barlow, Jamika McAulay-Earnest, Holly Wall, Maddison Adams, Deja Barlow, Asha Lloyd, Maraiyde Dougan, Zoe Clark, Darcy O’Rorke, Bethany Jokinen, Amaia Wain, Isabella Parmenter, Jasmin Vassallo and Molly Bowd.
Annalise Crawley and Halo Campbell were also selected for the mixed U13 squad.
Sports Program Manager, Claire McCulloch explains how thrilled she was to see so many NCAS athletes represented in the North Coast Force Selections. “I look forward to seeing how the girls have developed over the season” she said.
Representative teams have been named in the Under 13, Under 15, Under 17, and Youth Girls 17 age groups. These teams will compete in the Hunter Challenge Cup on the June long weekend, and in the Northern NSW Championships in Coffs Harbour from 11 to 13 July.
Paul Taylor, AFL North Coast Community Football Manager, said that the response has been overwhelming considering the significant problems posed by recent rainfall. “The combination of the partnership with the Sydney Swans Academy and the heavily disrupted representative seasons over the past two years appears to have made players keener than ever to be involved in the North Coast Force program,” Taylor said.
“Our Force program had built some great momentum prior to the disruptions caused by the pandemic and, with the talented players that have we’ve selected, we’ve got the chance to pick right up where we left off” he said.
“Half of our program is about how we perform at the carnivals, but the other half is helping individuals to develop as players and hopefully seeing a number of them progress through the Sydney Swans Academy pathway.”
In another great sign for the popularity of representative footy, the North Coast Force will field its first ever Youth Girls 13 team at the Northern NSW Championships in Coffs.
“We were overwhelmed with the number of girls who trialled for the Under 13 team, despite the fact that our new club competition for Under 14 girls hasn’t started yet. We’ve offered nine girls the chance to form a train-on squad that will become the base for our Youth Girls 13 rep team and will hold another trial specifically to round out this team once the local club competition is underway and girls who are new to the sport have had a chance to realise that they want to be involved in rep footy,” said Taylor.
The link to NCAS AFLW Sports Program can be found here.
Team lists for each of the age groups (including the Youth Girls 13 train-on squad) can be found at this link. Congratulations to all players that gained selection.
