By JARROD POTTER
THERE is a distinctly Dandenong flavour to this week’s Youth Girls National Championships.
Getting a chance to run around the home town grounds in the Big V, the championships run this week from Monday 2 May to Friday 6 May at grounds including Collingwood, Trevor Barker Oval Sandringham, Coburg and finally Punt Road Oval for some of the grand finals on Friday.
For Vic Metro and Vic Country, however, Friday could mean a whole lot more as the Pool A grand final is a curtain-raiser for the Richmond versus Hawthorn Friday night AFL clash at the MCG.
From the Dandenong Stingrays Youth Girls Academy, captain Georgia Walker (Vic Country), Lyndhurst’s Emily Browning and Cranbourne’s Courtney Jones and Kayla Ripari among others who will get to run out in front of a home crowd this year.
Walker, 18, from Rye, has also been named Vic Country’s captain for the upcoming championships, held this year in Melbourne.
The Stingrays’ grand final winning captain and best-on-ground medallist in the side’s 4.8 (32) to 1.1 (7) victory over Sandringham in the Youth Girls Academy Challenge premiership, will team up with Stingrays coach Scott Gowans to battle a lot of her Stingrays’ team mates, especially on Thursday as Vic Country takes on Vic Metro at Sandringham.
In a cruel twist, Eagles’ midfielder Georgia Gourlay has been ruled out of her second Youth Girls championships after re-rupturing her ACL – the second year in a row she’s suffered the same knee injury.
Beaconsfield trio Georgia Gee, Tyla Hanks and Brooke Struylaart will also take pride of place in the Vic Metro ranks while Charis Ulu Peniata will fly the flag for the Keysborough-based Parkmore Pirates.
