By JARROD POTTER
A FLEET of Dandenong Stingrays’ under-16s will don the state colours in one of the club’s biggest seasons for representative duties.
Hunter Clark, Oscar Clavarino, Aaron Darling, Luke Davies-Uniacke, Jake Frawley, Thomas Freeman, Angus Paterson and Jarrod Smith are part of the final 25-man squad to take on the rest of the country from 3 to 10 July on the Gold Coast.
Dandenong Stingrays’ Operations and Development Assistant Peter Dye said having strong squads for both under-18 and under-16 has been especially promising this season as well as the talent coming from across the entire Dandenong-Southern region.
“Definitely good to be in such a strong position with the under 16 and 18s within Vic Country,” Dye said.
“Those are quite a good group – you have some good years and not so good years, and we’ve got some especially good kids going through this year.
“The (Mornington) Peninsula has always been a strong feeder ground for us, but to have players from each region competing in the carnival is great to see – with SEJ (South East Juniors) and FDJFL (Frankston and District Junior Football League) getting a few names in as well.”
Dye highlighted the elite speed of Davies-Uniacke, the hard-running midfielder/forward Darling, and tall-timber Paterson as some of the Stingrays to look out for in the weeklong carnival.
It follows the success Dandenong had at the under-16 carnival, knocking over Gippsland and Bendigo – two particularly tough challenges in that age group.
“We beat Gippsland – first time we’ve beat them for a few years, at least as long as I’ve been down at the Stingrays,” Dye said.
“While we were beaten by Geelong, then we won pretty comfortable in the last game in Bendigo to have a good finish.”
The Vic Country under-16s start their campaign against Western Australia on Saturday at Carrara.
While in under-18 news, Vic Country has clinched the national championship with one round to spare after an 11-point win over South Australia. The premiers just need to finish off the carnival with any result against Western Australia on Thursday afternoon to take their rightful trophy.
