By JARROD POTTER
ROARING his way into the TAC Cup, Pakenham footballer Jai Rout is set to make an immediate impact with Gippsland Power.
Rout, 17, has been picked for his debut TAC Cup match and will line-up in Gippsland’s round-10 clash against Dandenong Stingrays.
Rout has been in stellar form with Pakenham’s under-18s, earning two best afield performances against Berwick and Beaconsfield respectively en route to 13 goals for the South Eastern Football League season.
While those are eye-catching efforts, Rout has really stood out to the Power on account of his exceptional work ethic at training sessions.
“We’re excited about him (Rout) making his debut,” coach Leigh Brown said.
“There are no expectations on him but just go out there and play his style of football.
“His training form over the past two or three weeks has been very, very good and he knew the opportunity was drawing closer and presented itself after training.
“Now he can take it with both hands and make it his own.”
Rout will be the 23rd man for the Power against the Stingrays and the young livewire will be a valuable addition to the Gippsland forward line with his dynamite kicking and keen goal sense.
Brown believes Rout will predominantly play up forward and potentially roam out onto the wing throughout the clash.
With schoolboys changes and Victorian representative duties dragging players away, Brown said this time of the season was Gippsland’s biggest challenge.
It’s a really interesting competition as it is year to year,” Brown said.
“When they get to the point where they lose players for Vic Country, Vic Metro or schoolboys it becomes unpredictable week to week and we always have to be switched on.
“We made seven or eight changes for the last few weeks and it’s important to have depth in the squad and keep it pretty basic.
“Looking forward to playing Dandenong again – we had a good win in round one and it doesn’t mean much with the teams changing, but we still expect a hard fought game and it’s always really good to play against Dandy.
“Been playing some good footy in patches and some average stuff in patches and if we can bring that up to our best we can be competitive against anyone.”
Also in the Gippsland line-up from the local area are Matt de Bruin (Pakenham), Tom Papley (Bunyip) and Todd Beck (Pakenham).
Rout’s Power – sitting sixth with a 4-3-1 record – will clash with third placed Dandenong at Shepley Oval from 1pm on Saturday.
GIPPSLAND POWERROUND-10 LINE-UP
B: Renooy, Grech, Dessent; HB: Proctor, McKay, Olsson; C: Mulqueen, Beck, Costigan; HF: Park, Patullo, Papley; F: Robinson, McDonald, Argento; R: Low, Ambler, DunkleyInt (from): Hillier, Riseley, Hobbs, De Bruin, Ferreira, Lawson, Byers, Rout*.
