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Canada versus USA under 17s set to go

  • Friday, August 03 2007 @ 03:09 am ACST
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North America

The under 17s match between Canada and the USA is yet another historic first for the Ironbank International Challenge weekend of footy in Vancouver. It will be the first junior representative team that Canada has put on the park, and probably for the US too (with the possible exception of the Barassi Youth Tournament several years ago). The young men will line up for a full contact international game of Aussie Rules. We have a look at where the players come from and how the organisers see the game in the greater scheme of developing footy in North America. Of course being the first such match there will be issues to be sorted - the US are a bit short on numbers so some of the Canadian kids face the prospect of lining up for the "enemy" - not an easy thing for a coach to explain. Still, it will be a great step forward for the game in North America and will hopefully demonstrate the value of investing in junior development. Just the very occurrence of the match on the same card as the men's and women's matches should be food for thought for the wider AFL Canada and USAFL communities.

Jeff Finsand, the key driver of junior development in San Francisco with support from the Golden Gate AFL, is excited by the upcoming match. "This is the eve of the biggest event by far for US junior footy! A handful of lads from Walnut Creek (in the San Francisco area) California and two from Vegas, one each from Portland and Arizona, will venture north to see how good Canada is. Hopefully this is the start of many such international junior matches". Unfortunately the squad had a few last minute drop outs, and Jeff advised "We will not be bringing a full squad, but will make do with the team at hand and any Canadians that can fill in. Team Canada wants to play 18-a-side. We are only bringing about 10 or 11, so they will fill in some players for us or we may play less players. They have a large club, so I see the need to get as many as possible involved. It would of course have been much better to get a full US 18. Our crew is fair quality though and Canada will have to be good to pull out a victory".

Jeff explained that the US squad will be coached by Eric Welden, "He is 18 and has played heaps of junior footy and a GGAFL match. Eric has single-handedly been the organizer of the junior matches here in Walnut Creek for the last two years".

With Canada having more juniors in regular footy programs (whereas most of the US numbers are in school clinics run by USFootyKids), the northerners may go in as favourites, but the Americans have some experienced youngsters and should take the match up to them. Let's hope this is the first of many such encounters between the two countries.

Canada under 17s:

NameAge - WeightYears played / league
Lucas Bayley 13 - 5'6" 100 lbs 4 years NDJAFL
Andrew Roosdahl 13 - 5"8" 135 lbs 3 years NDJAFL
Brandt Chu 15 - 5''7" 160 lbs 3 years NDJAFL
Erik Cimoszko 16 - 5'11" 155 lbs 2 years NDJAFL
Justin Connie 15 - 5'8" 135 lbs 2 years NDJAFL
Tyler Cornes 16 - 5'6" 120 lbs 5 years NDJAFL
Liam Dibb 15 - 5'4" 120 lbs 4 years NDJAFL
Carl Dick 14 - 6'1" 140 lbs 4 years NDJAFL
Keane Fraser 15 - 5'7" 130 lbs 3 years NDJAFL
Alex Frech 15 - 5'9" 140 lbs 4 years NDJAFL
Clayton Lund 15 - 5'9" 135 lbs 5 years NDJAFL
Conor Macdonald 14 - 6'1" 175 lbs 2 years NDJAFL
Patrick Macvey 15 - 5'10" 125 lbs 2 years NDJAFL
Bryan Major 15 - 6'0" 155 lbs 2 years NDJAFL
Justin Manhas 16 - 6'1" 140 lbs 2 years NDJAFL
Tyler Mast 15 - 6'1" 165 lbs 5 years NDJAFL
Nick McFarlane 16 - 5'10" 140 lbs 5 years NDJAFL 2 senior games Vancouver Cougars
Quinn Hobbs 15 - 5'11" 160 lbs 3 years NDJAFL
Jordan Milne 16 - 6'3" 185 lbs 5 years NDJAFL
Justen Oertel 15 - 5'11" 150 lbs 3 years NDJAFL 8 senior games Burnaby Eagles
Evan Quass 17 - 6'7" 165 lbs 2 years NDJAFL
T.J.Randhawa 16 - 5'10" 125 lbs 5 years NDJAFL
Braedon Reynolds 14 - 5'11" 135 lbs 3 years NDJAFL 3 games Gosford Park Tigers NSW
Michael Wait 15 - 6'1" 180 lbs 5 years NDJAFL
Jason Wait 14 - 6'0" 150 lbs 5 years NDJAFL
Stew Young 15 - 5'9" 140 lbs 5 years NDJAFL
Chris Harbor 15 - 5'7" 145 lbs 2 games Etobioke Kangaroos OAFL
Matt Payne 16 - 5'11" 175 lbs (VC) 5 years NDJAFL
Shaniel Prasad15 - 6'1" 190 lbs (VC) 3 years NDJAFL 2 senior games Vancouver Cougars
Tom Steer 15 - 5'10" 180 lbs (VC) 2 years NDJAFL 2 senior games Burnaby Eagles
Robin Macdonald 16 - 5'11" 160 lbs (C) 2 years NDJAFL 2 senior games Burnaby Eagles


USA under 17s:

NameHeight / Weight (lbs)AgeYears PlayedSenior Experience
Andrew Finsand 6-1 18016 10none
Erik Finsand 6-0 16514 9 none
Matt Farrell 6-0 15516 4 none
Dylan Fannin 5-9 18516 2 none
Paul Curry 5-10 15016 3 none
Dan Schwab 5-10 14516 1 none
John Sneed 5-5 ?15 ?some for Las Vegas Gamblers
Matthew Anderson 5-6 ?15 ?some for Las Vegas Gamblers
Dan Rogan 5-9 ?17?some for Arizona
Alex McPhee5-5 ?13?some for Portland Power
Erik Welden? ?18?Golden Gate AFL