NSW pair star for Flying Boomerangs

Shaydan Close (right) celebrates kicking one of his four goals. (Photo: Michael Willson/AFL Media)

NSW duo Shaydan Close and Cooper Kilpatrick have starred for the Indigenous rep side the Flying Boomerangs in their 62-point win over a Victorian diversity side in Melbourne on Sunday.

Under blue skies at Punt Road Oval the Boomerangs led at every change, eventually running out 12.11 (83) to 3.3 (21) winners.

Close (four goals) was the dominant forward on the ground, while midfielder Kilpatrick was prolific, finishing runner-up in voting for the Michael Long Medal for best afield.

The Flying Boomerangs, a group of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, aged 14 -15 years old, spent this week at a high performance camp where they were guests of the Collingwood and St Kilda Football Clubs, as well as the Australian Navy.

The squad of 25 boys was selected by AFL talent managers from around Australia based on their school attendance, leadership skills and football ability.

Boomerangs head coach Shannon Rusca told AFL.com.au he was delighted with the result, but more importantly with how his team responded to the week-long camp.

“It was a fantastic win, the boys have had a long week where they’ve been tested mentally and physically, so to come up on a Saturday after a week was testament to the boys’ character,” Rusca said.

“They showed the resilience we’ve been ramming home to them all week.

“Everyone played their role, they knew their role and executed their role, and a big catch cry we had during the week was ‘100% team, 100% of the time’, so I thought that was spot on.

“They’ll now return to their communities and play local level footy and their next talent pathway will be their State 16s team, and hopefully we get a big chunk of them go through to that.

“That’s our aim, to arm them with the right tools so they can move up into the national carnival.”

AFL FLYING BOOMERANGS              12.11 (83)
VICTORIAN DIVERSITY ALL STARS      3.3 (21)

Goalkickers:

Flying Boomerangs: Shaydan Close 4, Ari Miles 2, Michael Mummery, Tarryn Trindall-Thomas, Mihail Lochowiak, Eli Hill, Cooper Kilpatrick, Heath Ryder

Vic Diversity All Stars: Jacob Dhieu, Riley De Martino, Riley Taylor 1