By JARROD POTTER
FROM all parts of the south east, the inaugural AFL Victoria Youth Girls Academy Challenge is set to take Youth Girls football to the next level.
Dandenong Stingrays and Gippsland Power will both enter sides in the newest AFL Victoria competition, starting Sunday 21 February, set to showcase the best 16 to 18-year-old female footballers in the state.
The Academy Challenge is a new direction for the Youth Girls program, moving into a home-and-away season for the first time in the history of the girls’ game as opposed to long-weekend carnivals in recent years.
Dandenong will be captained by Georgia Walker, with support from vice- captains Jordy Allen and Taylah O’Hagan.
Moving to home and away format is a huge thrill for Walker who can’t wait to see what the Stingrays can do on the bigger stage.
“It’s so exciting – I cannot wait,” Walker said. “Last year, we only had the carnival with the couple of games on the weekend, and that really took a toll on the body … but for it to be similar to how the boys play and actually have the home and away games, too.
“Hopefully, they’ll eventually be able to do the whole season like the boys and be able to play more games – especially coming in with the women’s comp – it’s exciting to see the game develop.”
Gippsland Power is making the leap up to the Academy level this year, and inaugural coach Scott McDougal was pleased with the side heading into the Challenge.
“It’s looking good – they’ve been really committed to the program and is really excited,” McDougal said. “The top-end talent is really good – people like Shayla Marsh, Darcy and Casey Guttridge
“We’ve got a wide, varying age group – 14 to 18 – and a lot of young girls that will develop quickly by being around that top-end talent.
“We’ve carried on from the Subway Shield squad, so although this is the first academy, the work that was done and the talent that was identified and interested last year set us up, so we could be selective with who we invited.”
South East Juniors trio Izzy Marsh (Officer), Tayla Hughes (Beaconsfield) and Kylee White (Tooradin-Dalmore) will be part of the inaugural Power squad.
Walker and McDougal encouraged local footy fans to get along to Frankston next week and support the sides’ debut match this week.
Dandenong will face Sandringham at 9am on Sunday morning at Frankston Oval while the Gippsland girls battle Geelong-Western from 10.45am.
