Five Calder Cannons and four Northern Knights players have been named in the Victoria Metro squad for the under-18 boys AFL National Championships.
A squad of 31 has been named following trial matches that have been held in recent weeks. Additional players may be included in the Victoria Metro squad prior to and throughout the championships.
Victoria Metro’s squad features players from the six Coates Talent League metropolitan programs, the Calder Cannons, Eastern Ranges, Northern Knights, Oakleigh Chargers, Sandringham Dragons and Western Jets.
Harry O’Farrell, Nash King, Isaac Kako, Damon Hollow and Jayden Nguyen have been selected from the Cannons, while the Knights’ Jesse Dattoli, Zak Johnson, Thomas Sims and Gabriel Stumpf are also in the squad.
Lucca Grego is the only player selected from the Western Jets.
AFL National Academy members and Australia under-18 team representatives Levi Ashcroft, Tom Gross, Christian Moraes, O’Farrell, Josh Smillie, Jagga Smith and Luke Trainor all feature in the Victoria Metro squad, along with Taj Hotton and Nguyen who represented the Australia under-18 team as injury replacements.
Twelve players who represented Victoria Metro last year at the championships, including Western Jets Lucca Grego, Northern Knights Zak Johnson and Dattoli and Calder Cannons’ Nash King and Harry O’Farrell, have been named in this year’s squad.
Victoria Metro will commence its campaign on June 9 when it takes on reigning title-holder the Allies at IKON Park.
Metro’s remaining three matches will be played against Western Australia on June 23, South Australia on June 30 and Victoria Country on July 14.
