Tuggeranong Players to Represent Erindale College in Swans Cup Competition
Tuggeranong Young guns Will Overs and James McCabe will lead a star studded Erindale College outfit in the inaugural year of a state wide schools competition.
The side, made up of mostly Tuggeranong Hawk representatives, will join other Canberra colleges in the Swans Cup, which the AFL sees as an opportunity to "engage and introduce Year 11 & 12 students to the game of Australian Football". Colleges will play each other once in the Canberra leg of the competition. The winner of which will continue on into knockout legs of the tournament against winners from Hunter/Northern NSW, Sydney North/West West, Sydney South/South West, Sydney City, Albury, Wagga Wagga and Western NSW.
Within Canberra each college has been partnered with an ACTAFL club to assist with training and facilities. This has seen the Tuggeranong Hawks play a big part in the lead up to Erindales first match against Queanbeyan. Not only is the side choc-a-bloc full of Tuggeranong junior talent, it has also been training at the Hawks home base (Gordon Oval) and the coaching duties have been taken on by 100 gamer Glenn `Cuz' Currie with the assistance of big man Trent Masters.
On coaching the side Currie said "the competition is a great initiative by the AFL and I am looking forward to having some involvement in the Erindale team. There will be a bit of pressure on the players as Erindale is the only college to boast a Talented Sports Program, so the expectations are high. I have every faith that the boys will do very well. There is a lot of talent in the side so for Trent and I, it has just been a matter of structuring them up into one team."
To say there is a lot of talent in the side may be an understatement. As it stands the Erindale team will boast Will Overs, James McCabe, Will Prowse and Troy Fanyvesi who have all played 1st grade in the Canberra Senior Competition. Sean Hanily and Mick Foster are both senior players from the Riverina Area; and Sean Wilkinson, Liam Greenwell and Charlie Prowse last year represented the ACT schoolboys in Darwin. The strength of the side has generated excitement around the school with a lot of people interested in the success of the side.
When asked about participating in the competition Will Overs said "All the boys at school are really keen for it. The whole college is excited which is good because it is giving us some recognition within the school. We realise its going to be a hard slog, but there will be a large following for each game so we intend to do well."
The beauty of a schools competition such as the Swans Cup is it also exposes non-AFL athletes to the sport, and as a result, the Hawks are reaping the rewards. Rod Beer, a basketballer from Erindale was recruited in the side to assist in ruck duties. A very agile 6'4", Rod has been so enthusiastic about the sport that he has signed up to play with Hawks u18's, something that has made Masters and Dave Kavanagh (18's coaches) very excited.
Erindale will play the first of their Swans Cup matches against a combined Queanbeyan High Schools team at Margaret Donohue Oval on Tuesday 27th March. Keep an eye out for what should be a successful campaign.
Last Modified on 26/01/2008 11:34