Weekly Times | THE AFL Victoria Country 1 squad announced this week features only five players who played against Vic Metro last year.
The squad will have its first session on Sunday under coach Peter Knights, who is going into his sixth year at the helm, as they prepare for the match against the Victorian Amateur Football Association at Bendigo’s Queen Elizabeth Oval on July 11.
Knights said 65 players’ nominations were considered following the Worksafe Country Championships last month, and only five players in the initial squad of 39 played in last year’s 38-point loss to Vic Metro.
They are Shepparton United’s Tim Looby, Redan’s Chris Giampaolo, Drouin’s Daniel Nicholls, Frankston YCW’s Lachlan Wallace and Golden Square’s Jack Geary.
“As an actual team, we usually have between six and 10 players from one year that will be there the following year, so certainly this year is looking at being a little lower than that, but that’s exciting,” Knights said.
“It just means there’s some other opportunities for players to represent Vic Country and wear the Big V.”
Twelve leagues are represented in the selectors’ initial squad.
Peninsula has the highest representation with eight players, followed by the Geelong, Goulburn Valley and Ballarat leagues who have five representatives apiece.
Although only five players are currently in contention from last year’s final team, some players in the initial squad are returning to the fold.
They include previous All Australians Tyson Hartwig, from Wangaratta Rovers, Justin Van Unen (Mt Eliza) and Grant Weeks (Colbinabbin).
Van Unen, who kicked 12 goals on Saturday in Mt Eliza’s 133-point demolition of Karingal, kicked two goals for Vic Metro last year while representing Eastern Football League club Vermont.
Some players who were ruled out of their Worksafe Country Championships matches due to injury were also selected, including last year’s captain Looby, who missed Goulburn Valley’s clash against Geelong with a back injury.
The 47-man Victoria Country 2 squad, to be coached by John Cossar, has also been released.
There are 18 different leagues represented in the squad, with eight players from the South East league selected.
Vic Country 2 will face a VAFA representative side at 1.10pm on July 11 in Bendigo, following the under-19 match between Vic Country and VAFA at 10.15am.
The headline match, between Vic Country 1 and the VAFA, will kick off at 4.05pm.
VIC COUNTRY 1 SQUAD
Name (League, Club)
Lucas Anderson (Ballarat, Lake Wendouree)
Derick Micallef (Ballarat, North Ballarat)
Chris Giampaolo (Ballarat, Redan)
Nathan Horbury (Ballarat, Redan)
Rowan Marshall (Ballarat, Sebastopol)
Jack Geary (Bendigo, Golden Square)
Troy Davis (Central Murray, Kerang)
Ryan O’Sullivan (Central Murray, Tooleybuc Manangatang)
James Linton (Geelong, Colac)
Jeremy Larcombe (Geelong, Leopold)
Robert Condy (Geelong, Newtown & Chilwell)
Dane McFarlane (Geelong, Newtown & Chilwell)
Alex Hickey (Geelong, St Joseph’s)
Bob McCallum (Gippsland, Drouin)
Dan Nicholls (Gippsland, Drouin)
Kane Martin (Gippsland, Sale)
Mark Collison (Gippsland, Traralgon)
Will Martiniello (Goulburn Valley, Benalla)
Steven Stoobants (Goulburn Valley, Rochester)
Andrew Riordan (Goulburn Valley, Shepparton Swans)
Tim Looby (Goulburn Valley, Shepparton United)
Jameson Daniels (Goulburn Valley, Tatura)
Ben Dobson (Hampden, Koroit)
Luke Crane (Hampden, Portland)
Sam Cowling (Hampden, Warrnambool)
Grant Weeks (Heathcote District, Colbinabbin)
Rob Forrest (Nepean, Rosebud)
Brayden O’Hara (Ovens and Murray, Albury)
Dean Polo (Ovens and Murray, Albury)
Tyson Hartwig (Ovens and Murray, Wangaratta Rovers)
Dylan Jones (Peninsula, Bonbeach)
Brett O’Hanlon (Peninsula, Edithvale-Aspendale)
Lachlan Wallace (Peninsula, Frankston YCW)
Warrick Miller (Peninsula, Mornington)
Sam Gill (Peninsula, Mt Eliza)
Justin Van Unen (Peninsula, Mt Eliza)
Guy Hendry (Peninsula, Pines)
Luke Potts (Peninsula, Pines)
Scott Dwyer (Yarra Valley Mountain District, Wandin)
