Final AFL Sydney Rep team
A very youthful, athletic side featuring the cream of the AFL Sydney crop will be hell-bent on ensuring the Carter-Jesaulenko returns to Sydney once again.
In total nine AFL Sydney clubs are represented in the strong side and not surprisingly Manly-Warringah feature prominently with seven of their players in the final team including reigning Phelan Medallist Tyrone Armitage.
The side will be led by Western Suburbs recruit and key forward, Taylor Williamson with St George’s Karl Merson and Armitage named as his deputies.
The initial squad selection focused on in-form players in the early rounds of the 2014 competition. The squad members came to the program eager to be impress and got on board with the style adopted by head coach, Roger Moten.
The former Sydney University NEAFL coach who currently is part of the UWS GIANTS NEAFL coaching group, is pleased with the disposition amongst the players leading into the Canberra clash.
“There is a great feeling amongst the group. They want to play for each other, the spirit is strong,” Moten enthused.
“The side is extremely quick, highly skilled and very confident in their abilities. We have had a great lead-up and I know our best performance on the day will go a long way towards winning”.
He is fully aware though that in front of their supporters, AFL Canberra will be very keen to put on a show.
“We are expecting a well-prepared, well-drilled physical side. Looking at the squad they also appear to have plenty of youth so it really could be a very high-quality, fast-paced game,” said Moten.
Moten is confident that win, lose or draw, the players will take a lot away from the program and look back fondly as a real career highlight.
“My hope is that the players take real pride in representing all AFL Sydney players and see it as a real reward – above all though, its about creating new mateship’s.”
The experienced coach also acknowledged the support of the “honest coaching group” of Chris Yard, Terry Mudge, Tony Overall and Krissie Steen who have all been heavily involved in all steps along the way.
“As a group, coaches and players alike, we are excited to get there and play at such a great venue under lights. This really is an important game to us. I’m extremely proud to be the coach of this talented group”.
On questioned on the key players for his squad, Moten found it difficult to narrow this down due to the talent on offer but was full of praise for the leadership group.
“Taylor Williamson has oozed leadership since joining the squad and being reasonably new to Sydney (formerly of Clarence in the Tasmania FL) would probably have been considered a smokey for the captaincy at the initial squad selection stage but there has been no better within the squad at leading by example,” Moten said.
“Williamson should have no trouble bringing the boys together and he will be ably assisted by the 2014 Phelan Medallist in Tyrone Armitage who has real X-factor about him and can break a game open in an instant. Merson is another who has really showed leadership qualities over the past four weeks and is in fine form also and we are confident his strong body and experience will hold up in representative football.”
Outside the leadership group, coach Moten mentioned Harrison Koch as a key. His big body and rebounding abilities will be pivotal to the sides performance on Saturday.
The side will travel to Canberra on Saturday morning with the game commencing that afternoon at 5pm at StarTrack Oval, Manuka. The game will be live streamed through the AFL Sydney Youtube channel with details provided on the AFL Sydney website later in the week.
Former AFL Sydney representative player and Hall of Fame inductee Barnaby Howarth will also be travelling with the group. With the AFL Sydney Representative Player of the Year trophy named after Barnaby and his father, he will take great pride in presenting each player with their guernsey pre-game and reminding them of the pride in pulling this on.
The final 23 players selected travelling to Canberra is as follows:
