TWENTY-FIVE young men have been given a second chance at football stardom.
Those who made the final cut for this year’s Barwon Sports Academy football development squad will gain access to specialist coaching and train with Geelong’s VFL squad each fortnight.
The aim is to unearth the Cats’ next late blooming star, in the mould of Matt Egan, Max Rooke or Harry Taylor — players who took slightly longer to develop before getting their crack at an AFL career.BSA chief Aaron Greaves said the squad, a joint project between the academy and Geelong Football Club, was aimed at local 18 to 21-yearold players who had missed elite junior squads but had the potential to play at a higher level.
‘‘Some of them have played Falcons before, some are late developers and for those guys it’s important that they don’t fall out of the system and that they continue to get a pathway to play the highest level of football possible,’’ Greaves said.
‘‘Hopefully it’s seen as a pathway to VFL level or to an AFL rookie spot. There may even be a Scott Thompson who was drafted by North Melbourne in 2007 after playing with Geelong’s VFL team) or Matt Egan within the bunch.’’
Geelong VFL coach Dale Amos said the youngsters involved in this year’s program were of interest to the Cats.
‘‘This is an opportunity for us to get access to some of the better local juniors before the end of the year and hopefully allows us to identify the talent that might be able to train with us next year and be part of our VFL squad,’’ Amos said.
‘‘These tend to be the guys that haven’t played Falcons or had the opportunity to train at a higher level, so this provides them with a bit of exposure to that. It’s a good opportunity for these guys to come down and see the way we train and if nothing else, they can take some new drills and some good training habits back to their home clubs.’’
