WA State 16s Boys aiming to end nine-year title drought

The AAMI WA Football State 16s Boys have a golden opportunity for their first AFL National Under-16s title in nearly a decade with a win over Vic Country on the Gold Coast on Friday morning.

The Black Swans haven’t taken out the Under-16s Championships since the days of Luke Jackson, Dev Robertson, Jeremy Sharp, Nathan O’Driscoll, Riley Garcia and Trent Rivers back in 2017, when the side won a pair of thrillers against Vic Country and Vic Metro.

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If WA aren’t victorious against Vic Country, it becomes a bit more complicated as to who takes out the title.

If two teams finish with 2-1 records, it goes down to head-to-head results between the two teams.

If three teams finish with 2-1 records, it goes down to percentage.

State 16s coach Michael Glassborow was proud of his team’s efforts so far after knocking off South Australia and Vic Metro respectively in their first two games to be the only defeated side in the carnival with a 2-0 record.

“We’ve been really even across the board,” Glassborow said.

 

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“Big Josh Waite in the ruck has been really good for us, Aiden Martignago has been really in the midfield and Troy Warner is another one who’s had a really good carnival.

“Then we’ve got three big forwards in Jayke Taylor, Nate Cass and Jack Holland who have given us some really good targets in the front half.

“Then there’s Jai Keene, one of our co-captains, he’s played a bit of everywhere for us and is our Mr Fixit.

“Across the board, we’ve been really lucky that everyone has played their role and it gives us some flexibility which is exciting.”

As for what he’s expecting out of Vic Country in his side’s finale?

“We’ll be challenged, they played very well against Vic Metro a couple of weeks ago,” Glassborow said.

“They’ve got some big key forwards, big country lads, so we’ve just got to make sure we’re really strong in the contest.

“Our advantage is we’re just going to be able to run and chase us.

“If we can win or halve the contest and give our forwards a chance, that will set the game up for us.

“The boys are coming off a three-day break so a lot of it will be the mental side as well, can you get through when you’re a little sit sore and find a little bit extra so it will be good to see how the boys can perform in that area.”

You can stream the game live from 9.45am WST on Friday morning here