Five of our ASPIRE AFL players set themselves up for a life in the AFL or AFWL ranks.
Over the last six months, the ASPIRE AFL program has seen a handful of its Senior players kick onto extraordinary achievements. Annabelle Foat, Havvana Harris and Leo Lombard are all named in ALL AUSTRALIAN Teams. While Nyalli Milne and Sienna McMullen played in the Under 18 Queensland Team, and Jake Rogers played in the Under 18 Futures Team on Grand Final day at the MCG.
Annabelle went away with the Under 15 Queensland Schools AFL team and competed in a week-long carnival in Albury against the other States. With the Queensland girls going undefeated and being crowned National Champions for the first time, the icing on the cake for Annabelle was being named in the All Australian Team (a selection of the best of the best from all the teams at the carnival). This experience has made Annabelle even more determined to turn her hobby into a career, “I know that I’ve come away from the carnival with a greater desire to turn my dream into a reality”, Annabelle said.
Havanna, who at the tender age of 15, represented Queensland at the Under 18 Championships earlier in the year. This Championship had the teams either fly to Melbourne to play or play here at home. Havanna was introduced to AFL through school and hadn’t looked back from there, making multiple representative teams. Havanna was named as the full forward in the All Australian Team and like Annabelle, has fuelled the fire to make AFL a career.
Leo represented Queensland in the Under 16 years age group. He had the opportunity to play against other States and was grateful that he got to test himself against players with such high standards. Leo said, “Everyone was good, and you have to prove yourself against the best players”. Leo made the All-Australian team from this carnival and earned a call-up into the Under 17 Futures team for a game. It’s in this game that he realised the work rate on the field required to compete with the best of the best.
To continue with the AFL excellence, we have also had Nyalli Milne, only 16 years old, and Sienna McMullen plays alongside Havanna in the Under 18 National Championships. All three girls are part of the Gold Coast Suns Academy and do multiple sessions a week with the academy. From the carnival, Sienna was named in the Futures squad and got to fly to Geelong for a two-day training camp and participate in a game full of the 2023 AFLW future draft picks. The game took place under the eyes of all the AFLW club scouts, as Sienna is eligible to go into the draft at the start of next year. After turning in a best-on-ground performance, Sienna is very hopeful that she will be picked up early next year in the draft and be playing in the AFLW this time next year.
But wait, there is more. Senior student Jake Rogers has had a fantastic year on the field, with him cementing a regular starting spot in his club senior team, who just won the minor premiership in the QAFL, a regular in the Suns Academy team.
Making the Under 18 Futures Team at the age of 17 and only just recently has been notified that he will play on Grand Final day at the MCG in the NAB AFL Futures match as a curtain-raiser. Jake is excited about this opportunity and can’t wait to head to Melbourne to participate.
The whole Varsity College family are super excited about these outstanding seniors’ futures and will be watching and supporting them along their journey.
