Queenslanders Alex Sexton, Sam Michael and Brian Coleman-Broom are set for the football experience of a lifetime after being cjosen in the 2010 AIS/AFL Academy squad.
Thursday, 11 August, 2010
Queenslanders Alex Sexton, Sam Michael and Brian Coleman-Broom are set for the football experience of a lifetime after being included today in the 2010 AIS/AFL Academy squad.
Sexton, from Springwood, Michael, from Cairns via Redland, and Coleman-Broom, from Morningside, will tour Europe in April next year as part of the Academy experience.
They will visit the AIS elite training centre in Italy, play a match in London and attend the Anzac Day Service in Turkey.
The European tour will replace the equivalent trip to South Africa of recent years, and will come on top of a full 12-month scholarship designed to bolster the development of the 30 players chosen following the recent NAB AFL U16 and U18 Championships.
For Sexton (pictured) it is an extension of an amazing couple of months. He won the McLean Trophy as best player in division two at the recent U16 carnival in Sydney.
Likewise Michael, who, are relocating from Cairns to Redland, has played senior football for the Bombers at age 16 and been a member of the Queensland U18 side.
And for Coleman-Broom it comes after he, too, played for the Scorpions at the U16 carnival.
Queensland’s three-player representation in the 30-player squad is the best outside the division one states. Tasmania, Northern Territory and NSW/ACT have one player apiece, behind Vic Metro (9), Vic Country (6), WA (5) and SA (4).
AIS-AFL Academy high performance coach Jason McCartney said choosing just 30 youngsters was quite a task, given the ability shown by players across Australia.
“The quality of the footballers that the program continues to produce was again evident at the 2009 NAB AFL Draft with six of the top 12 selections graduates of the AIS-AFL Academy, and another seven pre-selected for the Gold Coast Football Club,” McCartney said.
The 2010 graduates can also look forward to a European tour in April of 2011. McCartney said the tour would build on the players’ physical and personal development, and help prepare them for life in the AFL.
In addition to the special experiences in Europe, the squad will also play matches in Melbourne to mark the beginning and completion of the tour.”
All inductees will attend their first camp at the Australian Institute of Sport in Melbourne during AFL Grand Final week from Wednesday, September 22 to Sunday, September 26.
McCartney said he looked forward to the year ahead with the 14th intake.
“The quality of the footballers that the program continues to produce was again evident at the 2009 NAB AFL Draft with six of the top 12 selections graduates of the AIS-AFL Academy, and another seven pre-selected for the Gold Coast Football Club”.
The full 2010 AIS-AFL Academy Squad is as follows:
Vic Country: Devon Smith (Geelong / Lara), Lachie Whitfield (Dandenong / Mt Martha), Matthew Buntine (Dandenong / Berwick), Jake Stringer (Bendigo / Eaglehawk), Jeremy Cameron (Nth Ballarat / Dartmoor), Todd Elton (Dandenong / Somerville)
Vic Metro: Jonathan O’Rourke (Calder Cannons/ Gisborne), Rory Atkins (Calder Cannons/Maribyrnong Park), Will Hoskin-Elliot (Western Jets) Nick Vlastuin (Northern Knights/Eltham), Matthew Haynes (Northern Knights/Yarrambat), Adam Tomlinson (Oakleigh Chargers / Trinity), Liam McBean (Calder Cannons/Aberfeldie), Joe Daniher (Calder Cannons/Aberfeldie), Elliot Kavanagh (Western Jets / PEGS)
NSW/ACT: Jacob Townsend (Leeton-Whitton)
South Australia: Jack Viney (North Adelaide/PAC), Sam Mayes (North Adelaide/Port FC), Joshua Growden (WWT/Snowtown), Brodie Grundy (Sturt/Unley FC)
Western Australia: Shannon Taylor (Claremont), Chris Yarran (Perth), Stephen Coniglio (Swan Districts / Upper Swan JFC), Jaeger O’Meara (Perth), Nathan Wilson (Peel Thunder)
Tasmania: Jimmy Webster (Glenorchy)
Northern Territory: Shaun Edwards (Saint Mary’s)
Queensland: Brian Coleman-Broome (Morningside FC), Alex Sexton (Springwood FC), Sam Michael (Redland)
