BRENDAN LINES
A CONTINGENT of 11 Riverland players has been included in West Adelaide Football Club’s (WAFC) under 18 squad for 2021.
The players were presented their guernseys at the club’s season launch ahead of its round-one clash with Glenelg this Friday.
West Adelaide’s talent and development manager Paul Streatfield said the continuation of RFL junior football in 2020 has kept Riverland players in good form.
“We’ve got a group that hasn’t played a lot of football over the last 12 months with some competitions not running,” he said.
“Our Riverland players were very lucky their competition did go ahead last year.
“So, those players are looking forward to a season ahead at SANFL level.”
Streatfield said the latest crop of Riverland products “is one of the biggest years I’ve seen”.
“Normally it sits somewhere between five and eight each year and to have 11 in the group is pretty good.”
The club has taken a two-fold approach in helping its country players develop within its ranks.
“We’ve made a bit of a change to our program from over the preseason to focus on a lot more of the fundamentals (skills) of the game… so that’s from a football side of things,” Streatfield said.
“But it’s just as important to develop these young men off the field as well.
“We’re giving them some education in different areas of life through the SANFL and the club so that they’re in the best position to attack the next couple of years.”
Closing the gap between city and county areas is an area of focus, Streatfield says.
“We’ve had a couple of Riverland players that have moved to Adelaide this year,” he said.
“Helping them out with accommodations and schools… has been a good project to be involved in.
“We are also wary not everyone’s going to be able to do that. And we need to make the program as approachable as possible for people still based in the Riverland.”
Streatfield said players who remain in the Riverland will have an opportunity to still train with the club.
“We have a second training session each week run by Tim Jackson which is being held in Lyrup,” he said.
“It’s been a great way to keep country players involved… so they’re not behind the guys in the city who are training two or three times a week.”