{"id":79600,"date":"2021-04-23T16:40:46","date_gmt":"2021-04-23T06:40:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/afl.draftcentral.localhost\/?p=79600"},"modified":"2021-11-10T05:43:24","modified_gmt":"2021-11-09T19:43:24","slug":"full-squad-afl-academy-to-take-on-geelong-vfl-on-saturday-morning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/2021\/04\/23\/full-squad-afl-academy-to-take-on-geelong-vfl-on-saturday-morning\/","title":{"rendered":"Full squad: AFL Academy to take on Geelong VFL on Saturday morning"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>THE AFL Academy is set to take on Geelong VFL tomorrow, making for an exciting curtain raiser to Saturday&#8217;s AFL clash between Geelong and West Coast. Bouncing down at 10:10am at GMHBA Stadium, the featured bout sees 24 of the nation&#8217;s brightest AFL Draft prospects granted with the opportunity to go head-to-head with a mature outfit containing plenty of elite level talent.<\/p>\n<p>There has been a raft of changes to the original 21-man squad, <a href=\"http:\/\/afl.draftcentral.com.au\/2020\/12\/18\/2021-afl-academy-squad-announced\/\">announced in December of last year<\/a>, as top-up players and injury replacements filter into the side. Among the inclusions are a good amount of tall prospects, with rucks <strong>Mac Andrew<\/strong>, <strong>Toby Conway<\/strong>, and <strong>Ned Moyle<\/strong> all earning call-ups for their promising NAB League form.<\/p>\n<p>Adelaide Next Generation Academy (NGA) talent <strong>Blayne O&#8217;Loughlin<\/strong>, the nephew of <em><strong>Michael<\/strong><\/em>, came in alongside Conway and Moyle, as did dynamic marking defender, <strong>Josh Gibcus<\/strong>. Skilled Oakleigh Chargers utility <strong>Lachlan Rankin<\/strong> is the latest inclusion, replacing <strong>Josh Sinn<\/strong> who pulled up sore after academy training this week.<\/p>\n<p>Sinn&#8217;s Sandringham Dragons teammate <strong>Campbell Chesser<\/strong> has also been sidelined with a knee complaint, while Tasmanian <strong>Sam Banks<\/strong> (broken wrist) and <strong>Ben Hobbs<\/strong> will miss after sustaining injuries during the latest round of NAB League action. <strong>Braden Andrews<\/strong> and <strong>Cooper Murley<\/strong> will also sit out, sporting previous knocks.<\/p>\n<p>The final couple of additions should add some dash and dare on the outer, with the fast-rising <strong>Finn Callaghan<\/strong> and <strong>Nasiah Wanganeen<\/strong> both getting their chance, while eye-catching West Australian <strong>Neil Erasmus<\/strong> was also rewarded for his early-season exploits.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A few names added to the AFL Academy squad for the clash with <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GeelongVFL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@GeelongVFL<\/a> with <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GlenelgFC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@GlenelgFC<\/a> Nasiah Wanganeen, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Sandy_Dragons?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Sandy_Dragons<\/a> Finn Callaghan and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/subiacolions?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@subiacolions<\/a> Neil Erasmus coming in. Erasmus (28.7 disp @ Colts level), Callaghan (18.7 disp @ NLB) and Wanganeen (Ressies) strong starts<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Peter Williams (@pawil5) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/pawil5\/status\/1384329413702000640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 20, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><em>Here&#8217;s a look at how the squad may line up:<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>FB:<\/strong> Blayne O&#8217;Loughlin, Rhett Bazzo, Josh Fahey<br \/>\n<strong>HB:<\/strong> Jase Burgoyne, Josh Gibcus, Finn Callaghan<br \/>\n<strong>C:<\/strong> Nasiah Wanganeen, Tyler Sonsie, Matt Roberts<br \/>\n<strong>HF:<\/strong> Matthew Johnson, Jacob Van Rooyen, Blake Howes<br \/>\n<strong>FF:<\/strong> Neil Erasmus, Jack Williams, Josh Rachele<br \/>\n<strong>FOL:<\/strong> Ned Moyle, Nick Daicos, Jason Horne<\/p>\n<p><strong>BENCH:<\/strong> Mac Andrew, Toby Conway, Cooper Hamilton, Austin Harris, Lachlan Rankin, Ned Stevens<\/p>\n<p><strong>INJURED:<\/strong> Braden Andrews, Sam Banks, Campbell Chesser, Ben Hobbs, Cooper Murley, Josh Sinn<\/p>\n<p>Starting from the back, there should be plenty of drive to come from this lot. Recent inclusions, O&#8217;Loughlin and Callaghan are quite varied in terms of height, but both love to get going on the rebound and use the ball by foot. GWS Academy product <strong>Josh Fahey<\/strong> is another in that category, while potential Port Adelaide father-son <strong>Jase Burgoyne<\/strong> brings clean skills and plenty of versatility. Despite moving forward this year, <strong>Rhett Bazzo<\/strong> was the sensical full back choice, with Gibcus&#8217; marking prowess also landing him a starting spot in the spine.<\/p>\n<p>This team gets a big tick for versatility in the key position department, with Bazzo one of the many prospects who can shift roles. Fellow West Australian <strong>Jack Williams<\/strong>, named at full forward, has been known to swing back, while Gold Coast Academy tall <strong>Ned Stevens<\/strong> can arguably play on each line. He may be freed up to play at either end, given the rich ruck stocks available.<\/p>\n<p>The magnets are likely to be shuffled elsewhere, too. Tall inside midfielder <strong>Matthew Johnson<\/strong> has been named at half-forward having endured an injury interrupted preseason, but will likely rotate through the engine room. <strong>Matt Roberts<\/strong>, named on the wing can also play on the inside but rests forward well and has terrific running capacity. <strong>Blake Howes<\/strong> (half-forward) is also known to roam a wing, while <strong>Josh Rachele<\/strong> and Erasmus are others with promising midfield craft.<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, <strong>Cooper Hamilton<\/strong> is a solid figure who can be utilised up either end or in that midfield rotation, while small utility <strong>Austin Harris<\/strong> will look to use his smarts as a defender, forward, or wingman. Rankin is another in that boat, having previously played as a running defender or wingman, but more recently been utilised up forward.<\/p>\n<p>Lastly, arguably the centrepiece of the lineup lies at the centre bounces. Top five candidate <strong>Tyler Sonsie<\/strong> joins clear pick one frontrunners, <strong>Nick Daicos<\/strong> and <strong>Jason Horne<\/strong> at the heart of the team, set to form a potent midfield trio for the Academy bunch.<\/p>\n<p><em>Full squad:<\/em><\/p>\n<p>#1 Blayne O&#8217;Loughlin (SA) North Adelaide<br \/>\n#2 Austin Harris (Qld) Gold Coast Suns<br \/>\n#3 Cooper Murley (SA) Norwood*<br \/>\n#4 Josh Rachele (Vic C) Murray Bushrangers<br \/>\n#5 Tyler Sonsie (Vic M) Eastern Ranges<br \/>\n#6 Nick Daicos (Vic M) Oakleigh Chargers<br \/>\n#7 Cooper Hamilton (Vic C) Bendigo Pioneers<br \/>\n#8 Ben Hobbs (Vic C) GWV Rebels*<br \/>\n#9 Jason Horne (SA) South Adelaide<br \/>\n#10 Matt Roberts (SA) South Adelaide<br \/>\n#11 Jase Burgoyne (SA) Woodville-West Torrens<br \/>\n#12 Sam Banks (Tas) Clarence*<br \/>\n#13 Lachlan Rankin (Vic M) Oakleigh Chargers<br \/>\n#14 Campbell Chesser (Vic C) Sandringham Dragons*<br \/>\n#15 Josh Sinn (Vic M) Sandringham Dragons*<br \/>\n#16 Josh Fahey (NSW\/ACT) GWS Giants<br \/>\n#17 Nasiah Wanganeen (SA) Glenelg<br \/>\n#18 Braden Andrews (Vic M) Oakleigh Chargers*<br \/>\n#19 Neil Erasmus (WA) Subiaco<br \/>\n#20 Finn Callaghan (Vic M) Sandringham Dragons<br \/>\n#21 Blake Howes (Vic M) Sandringham Dragons<br \/>\n#22 Matthew Johnson (WA) Subiaco<br \/>\n#23 Jacob Van Rooyen (WA) Claremont<br \/>\n#24 Rhett Bazzo (WA) Swan Districts<br \/>\n#26 Ned Stevens (NT) Waratah\/Gold Coast Suns<br \/>\n#27 Jack Williams (WA) East Fremantle<br \/>\n#28 Mac Andrew (Vic C) Dandenong Stingrays<br \/>\n#29 Toby Conway (Vic C) Geelong Falcons<br \/>\n#30 Ned Moyle (Vic M) Oakleigh Chargers<br \/>\n#35 Josh Gibcus (Vic C) GWV Rebels<\/p>\n<p>* &#8211; <em>denotes injured<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The game will be streamed live via the official AFL app and website. Keep an eye out for <em>Scouting Notes <\/em>on each Academy player,\u00a0post-match.<\/p>\n<p>&#8212;<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Image Credit:<\/strong> Michael Willson\/AFL Photos<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>THE AFL Academy is set to take on Geelong VFL tomorrow, making for an exciting curtain raiser to Saturday&#8217;s AFL clash between Geelong and West Coast. Bouncing down at 10:10am at GMHBA Stadium, the featured bout sees 24 of the nation&#8217;s brightest AFL Draft prospects granted with the opportunity to go head-to-head with a mature [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":79603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7949,17,8,3129,3132,3130,15,3133,3134,3131],"tags":[15303,13721,25,24,15304,16772,235,4452,7116,9111,4472,9126,8831,9122,6328,10162,686,162,16291,786,14286,9139,4470,9141,9404,12273,2847,9109,9003,7111,15163,8889,12717,16410,9306,14810,3332,11815,5306,1517,16770,9325,9407,16773,16775,16771,9447,9110,16774],"class_list":["post-79600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nab-league","category-national-championships","category-news","category-nsw-act","category-queensland","category-south-australia","category-state-leagues","category-tasmania","category-victoria","category-western-australia","tag-2021-afl-academy","tag-2021-afl-draft","tag-afl","tag-afl-academy","tag-afl-academy-squad","tag-afl-curtain-raiser","tag-afl-draft","tag-austin-harris","tag-ben-hobbs","tag-blake-howes","tag-blayne-oloughlin","tag-braden-andrews","tag-campbell-chesser","tag-cooper-hamilton","tag-cooper-murley","tag-draft-central","tag-draft-prospects","tag-father-son","tag-finn-callaghan","tag-geelong-vfl","tag-jack-williams","tag-jacob-van-rooyen","tag-jase-burgoyne","tag-jason-horne","tag-josh-fahey","tag-josh-gibcus","tag-josh-rachele","tag-josh-sinn","tag-lachlan-rankin","tag-mac-andrew","tag-matt-roberts","tag-matthew-johnson","tag-nasiah-wanganeen","tag-ned-moyle","tag-ned-stevens","tag-neil-erasmus","tag-next-generation-academy","tag-nga","tag-nick-daicos","tag-pick-one","tag-predicted-lineup","tag-rhett-bazzo","tag-sam-banks","tag-start-time","tag-stream","tag-team","tag-toby-conway","tag-tyler-sonsie","tag-watch"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79600"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90751,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79600\/revisions\/90751"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/central.rookieme.com\/afl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}