Werribee Tigers are getting a rare chance to grace the home of football, the MCG.
The Tigers have been invited to play against an AFL under-18 academy side in a 4.35pm curtain-raiser to the AFL blockbuster between Collingwood and Richmond this Friday.
Tigers coach John Lamont says it’s a tremendous opportunity for his team to experience the thrill of playing on the ’G.
“Some of our blokes have never played there so it’ll be a real buzz for them,” he said.
“It’s an opportunity to put our players under the eye of all AFL recruiters.
“Players like [Jake] Wilson, [Tom] Gribble, [Isaac] Conway, [Josh] Porter, [Jason] Robinson and [Joe] Maishman all have ambitions to get to an AFL club so this is a huge opportunity for them.
“New boys [David] Mennan, [Dane] McFarlane and [Ethan] Petterwood will also come under notice of AFL talent scouts for the first time in a Werribee jumper, so it’s exciting for them, too.
“Then throw in a few of our older heads like [Nathan] Laracy, [Scott] Sherlock and [James] Hussey and it promises to be a great game for our playing list.”
Werribee is calling on Richmond and Collingwood fans to turn up a little earlier to take in some of the action.
With the best under-18s on show, the exhibition game will feature some of the AFL’s future stars.
It will be a busy weekend for Werribee.
The players who miss out on the curtain-raiser will play in a VFL practice match against Footscray at the Whitten Oval on Saturday from noon.
“We’re really looking forward to the whole weekend following on after the Easter break,” Lamont said.
“Everyone will be going 100 per cent trying to impress for selection in the round one team.”
