WA Talls To Test South Australia in Championship OpenerWednesday, June 19, 2024 - 9:30 AM

WA coach Michael Glassborow believes he has the squad to succeed at the 2024 Marsh AFL National Development Championships – U16 Boys.

The West Australians open their campaign against South Australia at Thebarton Oval in Adelaide on Saturday morning.

“The boys are ready to go, and super excited to get over to Adelaide on Friday,” Glassborow said.

“We feel like we are really well prepared after three solid trial games and solid block of training.”

Glassborow understands the difficulty of winning away from home.

“We know it’s a tough trip, but we are going over to win and play to our strengths and have fun,” he said. 
 
“We think the 16’s haven’t won in South Australia for over ten years, so it’s always proven a difficult assignment.

“We know they’re a quality side with a lot of talent so we will need to be at our best, but we are definitely up for the challenge.”

 The WA team is blessed with a number of options in attack.

“We think we have a really good balance in this group, but we feel our key talls  are our strength,” said the WA coach.

“Hopefully we get some good weather, and the boys can really stretch them down forward.”

Glassborow has given WA supporters a guide on which players have caught his eye in the lead up to the Championships.

“There’s plenty of exciting talent to watch and we feel like it’s a very balanced squad this year,” he said.

“A couple to watch that have been impressive so far in our trial games would be Kobi Lecrae playing as a high forward, along with dangerous smalls forwards Lachie McGlade and Damian Newbery who have some real tricks and talent.

“Hopefully we get to see that on display over the coming weeks.”

All matches in the Championship will be live streamed on the AFL Play Youtube channel.

                              WA STATE TEAM

Elijah Dennis    Claremont
Benji van Rooyen    Claremont
Damien Newry    Claremont
Joshua Nathan    East Fremantle
Cooper Ramsay     East Fremantle
Kye Ormerod    East Fremantle
Axel Walsh    East Perth
James Barnard    East Perth
Garrison Kenh    East Perth
Lachlan McGlade    East Perth
Tazzi Faithfull    Peel Thunder
Mitchell Stirling    Peel Thunder
Jayden Clarke    Perth
Heath Wilson     South Fremantle
Lucas Robinson    South Fremantle
Angus Abbonizio    Subiaco
Antonio Crupi    Subiaco
Harrison Gilford    Subiaco
Thatcher Simmons    Subiaco
Leo Steed    Swan Districts
Jai Debono    Swan Districts
Samuel Hill    West Perth
Koby LeCras    West Perth