Primary AFL news

Congratulations to the primary students across the diocese for their excellent efforts at Diocesan AFL Trials, Polding Trials and the NSWPSSA AFL competition. Read more below! 

Diocesan AFL Trials 

There was an excellent standard of football at Diocesan AFL trials, held at Tulkaba Oval Teralba in Term 1. Over forty talented primary school footballers competed for a chance to attend the Polding Trials. It is the first time the Diocese has selected the full 15 players to trial at Polding. AFL NSW Development Officers commented on the strength of the Hunter.

Callum Van Huisstede, Declan Tricky, Jack Slater, James Gray, Theodore Spak, Thomas Lynch, Zac Jones, Cayden Norris, Mason Van Huisstede, Caleb Isacc, Elliot Mole, Jacob Flynn, Isaac Dean, Hunter Strong and Owen Trickey fought hard for the ball in and dominated trials in the air and were selected to trial at Polding.

Polding Trials 

Maitland-Newcastle students along with students from Wilcannia, Forbes, Bathurst, Lismore, Broken Bay and Armidale battled it out for a place on the Polding team. Jacob Flynn, Elliot Mole and Theodore Spak from Merewether, Tyson Williams and Owen Trickey from Singleton, Cayden Norris from East Maitland, and James Gray from Nelson Bay played hard all day and were rewarded with a place in the Polding team.

NSWPSSA AFL Competition

The NSWPSSA AFL competition was held in Coffs Harbour, where the boys played some strong games and had convincing wins over North Coast, Hunter and Sydney Southwest. Polding finished a solid 6th overall. Owen Trickey caught the selector's eyes throughout the tournament and was acknowledged for his skilled performances at center half-back. Owen was offered a place in the NSWPSSA team to play at the School Sport Australia Championships.

For the first time, NSWPSSA ran an AFL event for girls. Quin Neyland from Singleton and Abbey Gagan from Warners Bay were selected locally to trial at Coffs Harbour. Both performed well with Quin standing out with the selector. Quin was selected as ruck rover and center half-forward in the NSW team.

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