Selectors have named Australia Post Queensland U16 and U18 sides for matches in the NAB Australian Championships this weekend.
Thursday, 23 June, 2011
Sandgate on-baller Tom Overington has been chosen from outside the Australia Post Queensland U18 Scorpions squad to head a group of five under-age reinforcements.
Overington, pictured firing out a handball for the State U16 side last year, will come into the U18 Scorpions line-up for Saturday’s clash with the Northern Territory in Round 3 of the NAB Australian U18 Championships.
The match will be played at Gold Coast’s Metricon Stadium at 10.45am on Saturday, and will complete a Queensland – NT double-header after the respective U16 sides meet at 8.15am in the opening round of the NAB Australian U16 Championships.
Overington, a standout with Queensland U16 Young Scorpions last year, has been in similarly brilliant form with Sandgate in the Pineapple Hotel Cup in recent weeks and is a proven ball-winner.
Significantly, Scorpions coach David Ashkar and his selectors turned to five bottom-age U18 players as they hand-picked a side to tackle the super-slick but undersized Territorians.
Morningside’s Brian Coleman-Broome, a 2010 AFL/AIS Academy squad member, will return to the side after missing the last game against Victorian Metro.
Broadbeach’s Tom Davidson also resumes for his first championships match this year. He played in the first two warm-up matches against TAC Cup opposition and was the emergency against Vic Metro.
Joining Overington in their first game for Queensland at U18 level will be Morningside’s Josh Smith, who has recovered from a broken hand, and Michael Wyld.
Academy squad member Alex Sexton, a member of the Scorpions leadership group, will miss the match following an ankle injury suffered in a school physical education exam on Tuesday.
Left out of the side that lost to Vic Metro were ruckmen Craig Malone and Sam Cabrera and utility player Luke Chitty, with one further to be confirmed when a 23-man squad is cut to 22.
The Australia Post Queensland Scorpions side to play the NT on Saturday is:-
B: Chris Murphy, Tom Fields, Josh Wagner
HB: Aaron Laskey, Sam Michael, Henry Joyce
C: Andrew Boston, Dalton Tucker (capt), Jackson Allen
HF: Lachlan Russ, Clay Cameron, Adam Oxley
F: Peter Yagmoor, Jackson Starcevich, Tom Overington
R: Fraser Thurlow, Richard Newell, Jackson Rolfe.
INT: Michael Wyld, Brian Coleman-Broome, Tom Davidson, Fraser Thompson, Josh Smith (one to be omitted).
Meanwhile, Sandgate’s Isaac Conway has been named captain of the 2011 Australia Post Young Scorpions.
His deputies will be Caine Tickner from Noosa and Hamish Davidson from Panthers in Rockhampton.
The Young Scorpions side for Game 1 of the NAB Australian U16 Championships against NT on Saturday is:-
B: Hayden Bertoli-Simmons, Matt Uebergang, Lachlan Niland-Rowe
HB: Hamish Davidson, Angus Watts, Lewis Radford
C: Zac Southern, Cain Tickner, Jack Goodall
HF: Isaac Rokeby, Steve Mills, Nick Jackson
F: Ori Nilmo, Jordan Bourke, Ethan Alexander-Crackel
R: Caleb Hay, Isaac Conway (capt), Sam Gribble
INT: Jackson Gray, Josh Stiller, Jarred Klessens, Nick Davison, Bill Pendlebury, Nick Selman, Ben Bisset (three to be omitted).
