By Jonty Ralphsmith
Three Dandenong Stingrays and two Gippsland Power players were involved in the under-17’s futures match on the MCG on grand final day.
The match is played annually and pits the best 44 players eligible for the following year’s draft against each other.
The Nick Davis-coached Team Houli defeated the Travis Cloke-coached Team Murphy 10.8 68 to 4.16 40.
Team Murphy was the dominant team for large parts of the afternoon and had 75 more possessions in an open, fast and free-flowing morning, but was made to pay for inefficiency and inaccuracy.
Dandenong’s Sam Frangalas represented Team Houli, and Stingrays teammates Kobe Shipp and Cooper Simpson were playing for Team Murphy.
From Gippsland, both Archer Reid and Zane Duursma played for Team Murphy.
Below is an overview of each player’s performance.
Kobe Shipp (Beaconsfield, Dandenong): Was among the dominant players in the first quarter for his team and a large reason they dominated the territory. Took three intercept marks in that quarter alone, plus another difficult contested mark as he outmaneuvered opponents. Didn’t quite maintain that level of dominance throughout the afternoon, but remained involved and cleared defence with long targeted kicks on multiple occasions.
Cooper Simpson (Mount Martha, Dandenong): The midfielder-forward bookended his day with his two best quarters. Playing in his signature green boots, the Stingray’s first three possessions were all inside 50s and he had several score involvements in the first quarter. Like he has shown throughout the NAB League this season, he looked potent when given space and got some contested possessions as well. Will be ruing a poorly executed snap on goal in the last quarter that would have kept his side in it, but was one of Team Murphy’s more accomplished players late in the day.
Sam Frangalas (Berwick, Dandenong): AFL talent ambassador Kevin Sheehan lauded Frangalas’ bull-like presence ahead of the opening bounce and while the nature of the match didn’t suit his game based on gruntwork, he was still well involved. The third quarter was probably his most effective as he got involved in some offensive chains as his team got on the scoreboard to punish Team Murphy’s inability to capitalize.
Zane Duursma (Foster, Gippsland): Produced arguably the highlight of Team Murphy’s day when he took a massive contested mark inside 50 in the second quarter from a high entering kick, before going back and converting. If that wasn’t the highlight, then his other goal probably was: a tight bender tucked up against the boundary line. Kicked two of his team’s four goals and after the body of work he has displayed in 2022, those couple of moments will catch recruiters’ eyes.
Archer Reid (Inverloch-Kongwak, Gippsland)): A quieter day for Reid, but his reputation in next season’s draft class is already well-established. The brother of Essendon’s Zach scored 17 goals as a bottom-aged key-position prospect and has also represented Vic Country, underlining his potential.
