Geelong Advertiser | HE’S been there before. And Victoria Country 1 coach Peter Knights says the class of Colac ball magnet James Linton was too much to overlook as he was named in a 39-man squad to tackle VAFA next month.
Linton, who was recalled to Geelong’s VFL squad for the clash against Essendon on Saturday night as the Cats battle injury woes, was among five GFL players named in the state team.
The Tigers premiership player joined Newtown & Chilwell pair Dane McFarlane and Rob Condy, Leopold’s Jeremy Larcombe and St Joseph’s Alex Hickey, who survived the first cut to remain in contention for state honours.
Joey defender Dan Lovick, Grovedale spearhead Jordan Erskine, Lion Brandon Howarth, South Barwon ruckman Darcy Fort and Eagle backman Paul Hinkley were overlooked after being selected in the initial 65-man squad.
“James Linton is a welcome return,” Knights said.
“He was with us two years ago and he was terrific. He’s a couple of years older, more experienced but we now we have to converse directly with Geelong on his VFL commitments first and foremost because we don’t want to stand in the way of any young players’ development.”
While Linton was a welcome addition, Knights conceded his knew little about McFarlane, Condy, Larcombe and Hickey.
“I didn’t watch the game against Goulburn Valley, but our selector at that game gave big wraps on the Geelong boys that have made it and the ones that missed out as well,” Knights said.
“It was probably the longest selection meeting we’ve ever had. It went for four fours and we were really well prepared in the fact that we had reports on all 65 players and we’d spoken to observers, my selectors and coaches of both teams.
“So when you weigh up the selectors’ thoughts and the thoughts of both coaches, we were pretty thorough, so it was certainly difficult.
“And we will continue to monitor their performances at club level in the next few weeks.”
Knights said Lovick and Erskine came under strong consideration.
“We’ve got a lot of those quarter back, medium size half-back types and he (Dan) was unlucky to miss out but his name was certainly mentioned,” Knights said.
“Jordan’s performance was pretty good in the interleague but for varying reasons we’ve only gone in with four key position forwards.
“He was unlucky and he played last year. There’s only six players in our entire squad that were in the team last year, so there’s a lot of new faces.”
Howarth was unable to force his way in ahead of a long list of small forwards and Fort was overlooked in the ruck division, while Hinkley was “in the mix right until the end”, Knights said.
Vic Country 1 will play VAFA 1 at Bendigo on Saturday, July 11.
The squad’s first training session is on Sunday.
VIC COUNTRY 1 SQUAD:
Lucas Anderson, Derick Micallef, Chris Giampaolo, Nathan Horbury, Rowan Marshall (Ballarat), Jack Geary (Bendigo), Troy Davis, Ryan O’Sullivan (CMFL), James Linton, Jeremy Larcombe, Robert Condy, Dane McFarlane, Alex Hickey (GFL), Bob McCallum, Dan Nicholls, Kane Martin, Mark Collison (Gippsland), Will Martiniello, Steven Stoobants, Andrew Riordan, Tim Looby, Jameson Daniels (GVFL), Ben Dobson, Luke Crane, Sam Cowling (Hampden), Grant Weeks (Heathcote DFL), Rob Forrest (Nepean), Brayden O’Hara, Dean Polo, Tyson Hartwig (OMFL), Dylan Jones, Brett O’Hanlon, Lachlan Wallace, Warrick Miller, Sam Gill, Justin Van Unen, Guy Hendry, Luke Potts (Peninsula), Scott Dwyer (YVMDFL).
