Dandenong Stingray Tom Scully and NSW/ACT opponent Josh Duncan tussle for possession in round four of the AFL under 18 national championships at Casey Fields on Saturday. 20199 By Marc McGowan
THREE Dandenong Stingrays took centre stage in round four of the AFL under 18 national championships at Casey Fields on Saturday.
Midfielders Tom Scully and Ashley Smith and key position player Steven Gaertner represented undefeated Victoria Metro in its 51-point win over NSW/ACT. Dandenong stars Aaron Purves and Matthew Clark also competed for Victoria Metro earlier in the carnival.
Scully, 17, was named in Victoria Metro’s best players for the second straight match and another strong showing in yesterday’s (Wednesday) final game of the championships was to put him in line for All-Australian honours.
While the stakes were high for all the players in action, Stingrays regional manager Darren Flanigan said their performances at the championships would only form part of AFL recruiters’ opinions of them.
“No AFL club makes a decision based on one game; they’ve been watching these kids for three years,” he said.
“Chris Judd spoke to the group last year and said there are some blokes here no matter how good they play (at the national championships) they won’t get drafted and there are other blokes here that no matter how badly they play will still get drafted. Playing well at this carnival is not the be all and end all.
“They need to understand it’s a team game and team success comes first and individual honours will come later.”
The fifth and final round of the championships was played yesterday at the Telstra Dome, but scores were not available when the Star went to press.
