By Tara Murray
Gisborne’s young football talent will be on show for the Calder Cannons this season in the NAB League.
After a long selection process that started with 90 players, the Cannons have named a final squad of 46 players including six players from the Bulldogs.
Gisborne president John Wood said he couldn’t remember them having so many players selected in a single Cannons squad before.
Sam Graham and Sam Ramsay return the to the Cannons squad after being part of the team last year.
Graham, will be an overage player, after impressing late last year.
Jack Keeping, Flynn Lakey, Harry Jones, and Seb Bell-Bartels have all been named in this year’s squad.
Wood said all the players had come through the Gisborne Rookies system, before moving into the senior Gisborne program.
“It is a good result,” he said.
“A couple of the boys were in our under-18 premiership side last and the others have come up from the Rookies side.
“Between the two clubs from memory I don’t think that we’ve had that many before.”
Keeping, Ramsay, Jones, Graham and Bell-Bartels have all been named in the Cannons team for their round one clash on Sunday.
Wood said with the Cannons region taking in so many strong teams from the Essendon District Football League and Riddell District Football League it was a tremendous achievement.
The selection of six players in the Cannons squad further underpins the Bulldogs focus on youth.
The majority of the Bulldogs senior team has come through the junior system in Gisborne before moving through into seniors.
“In 2016 with a number of senior players leaving the club, we basically brought up the 2015 under-18 team,” Wood said.
“They weren’t ready at the time, but they had a lot of talent. We’re basically playing with a home grown team and the benefit of going that way is the youth pathway.”
