Juniors Ready

Juniors Ready

Next season’s junior footballers have taken to the field for the 2021 W&DJFL play allocation day.

The new initiative was organised by AFL North East Border, to assist the Wangaratta juniors clubs in having balanced and even teams.

Football Development Manager Zac Hedin said that normally, the process would happen at the end of the Auskick year. “This year without Auskick it’s been a bit harder to gauge where the kids are at, their standard and that sort of thing, which we’d normally get off the coaches from Auskick,” Hedin said.

“But doing it at this time of year and in a bit more depth is pretty new. “So these three sessions are designed to give us a bit of a look, get the kids back involved and kicking the footy before we send them off to their junior league clubs.”

While the new program is a great chance for the kids to get out and kick the footy around, Hedin doesn’t think it will replace the old method of player allocation.

“Normally we’d like to have these kids allocated in September/October, so they sort of know the year before they go up to junior league where they’re going to. “It’s purely been forced because of COVID-19. “It might mean that we do something a bit more in depth at the end of the Auskick year each year if this goes well.”

As for the scope of the sessions, Hedin said they are accessible to all who want to play junior club football, regardless of experience. “It’s just pretty basic drills today, just to get a gauge on where the kids are at. “Obviously, they haven’t touched a footy or had a proper kick of the footy in a little while, so we want to get them back used to bouncing the ball, kicking the ball, handballing the ball, marking the ball. “Then over the next couple of sessions we might play a few little games, get a bit more game sense, see how the kids go finding the footy and picking the ball up in a pressure situation as well.”

Naturally, the program is compliant with COVIDSafe policies. “We’ve got the QR code there, sanitiser, we get all the parents to register, that sort of thing. “They’ve all brought down their own drink bottles, their own sunscreen, that sort of stuff. “So we are trying to do the best we can with what we’ve been given.”

Hedin is assisted by a group of volunteer coaches from both the Magpies and Rovers football clubs, whose expertise and knowledge will be passed onto the future football stars. “It’s good to get them involved because obviously hopefully that’s where a lot of these kids will end up.”

ARTICLE: Nathan Devries

PHOTOS: Courtesy of the Wangaratta Chronicle. Ruby Newton in action at the W&DJFL allocation session last week.

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