The 2019 AFL Victoria Young Guns Series begins this weekend, with game 1 taking place at Wilson Storage Trevor Barker Beach Oval on Sunday.
The Young Guns Series gives players aged 22 and under the chance to further develop their game and showcase their skills in front of AFL recruiters, with a host of NAB League Boys and Hard Yakka / Totally Workwear VFL players named in the squads for the first match.
* See the initial squad lists (still subject to change) for game 1 of the Young Guns Series below.
Several players now on AFL lists participated in last year’s Young Guns Series, including: Brayden Ham (ex-Geelong Falcons/now Essendon), Lachlan Young (Dandenong Stingrays/Western Bulldogs), Laitham Vandermeer (Murray Bushrangers/Western Bulldogs), Thomas Jok (Collingwood VFL/Essendon), Jordon Butts (Murray Bushrangers/Adelaide), Hayden McLean (Sandringham/Sydney) and Ned Reeves (Box Hill Hawks/Hawthorn).
The Young Guns program will be overseen for a second year by VFL coaching games record-holder Gerard FitzGerald, whose 21 years of state-league football experience includes time at the helm of North Ballarat, Casey and Port Melbourne in the VFL as well as at the GWV Rebels in the Victorian U18 Boys competition.
In addition to the players, FitzGerald will aim to develop promising coaches through the Young Guns program, with two of last year’s Young Guns coaches now leading their own NAB League Boys teams – Josh Bourke (Sandringham Dragons) and Luke Daffy (Geelong Falcons). This year’s Young Guns head coaches are Trent McMicking (City Team) and Tom Curran (Country Team).
Game 1 of the Young Guns Series will start at 9.30am on Sunday as a curtain-raiser to the NAB League Boys match between the Geelong Falcons and Sydney Swans Academy at 12pm.
CITY TEAM (BLACK GUERNSEYS)
| NO. | FIRST NAME | SURNAME | DOB | HT | WT | NAB LEAGUE/VFL CLUB |
| 1 | Cody | Hirst | 19-Jan-00 | 178 | 67 | Eastern Ranges |
| 2 | Connor | Thar | 12-Oct-00 | 178 | 68 | Werribee |
| 3 | Lachlan | McLean | 19-Apr-99 | 186 | 78 | North Melbourne VFL |
| 4 | Joseph | Ayton-Delaney | 25-Mar-00 | 180 | 74 | Oakleigh Chargers |
| 5 | Jackson | Edwards | 11-Oct-99 | 179 | 73 | Werribee |
| 6 | Josh | Kemp | 13-Apr-00 | 183 | 73 | Calder Cannons |
| 8 | Angus | Hanrahan | 09-Aug-00 | 183 | 74 | Sandringham Dragons |
| 9 | Sam | Graham | 24-Jun-00 | 185 | 76 | Calder Cannons |
| 11 | Riley | Verbi | 17-Jun-98 | 182 | 73 | North Melbourne VFL |
| 12 | Daly | Andrews | 22-Feb-00 | 183 | 81 | Western Jets |
| 13 | Oliver | Simpson | 21-Oct-00 | 186 | TBC | Northern Knights |
| 14 | Muhammed | Saad | 24-Sep-98 | 186 | 89 | Coburg |
| 15 | Ayce | Taylor | 26-Sep-00 | 190 | TBC | Northern Knights |
| 18 | Sunny | Brazier | 14-Mar-00 | 190 | TBC | Northern Knights |
| 19 | Owen | King | 15-Jun-00 | 188 | 83 | Western Jets |
| 21 | James | Blanck | 20-Nov-00 | 195 | 85 | Eastern Ranges |
| 22 | Aaron | Clarke | 02-May-00 | 194 | 86 | Western Jets |
| 23 | Stefan | Radovanovic | 07-Jul-00 | 190 | 87 | Williamstown |
| 25 | Joel | Nathan | 12-Oct-00 | 192 | 80 | Eastern Ranges |
| 26 | Darcy | Bennett | 13-Aug-97 | 203 | 98 | Werribee |
| 27 | Will | Kennedy | 18-Jun-00 | 198 | 88 | Western Jets |
| 29 | Kallan | Dawson | 22-Jul-98 | 194 | 76 | Williamstown |
| 30 | Riley | Smith | 31-Jul-00 | 199 | 101 | Eastern Ranges |
COUNTRY TEAM (GREEN GUERNSEYS)
| NO. | FIRST NAME | SURNAME | DOB | HT | WT | NAB LEAGUE/VFL CLUB |
| 2 | Callan | Wellings | 20-Feb-98 | 182 | 77 | Collingwood VFL |
| 3 | Campbell | Hustwaite | 28-Sep-00 | 184 | 78 | Collingwood VFL |
| 4 | Jai | Nanscawen | 31-Mar-00 | 184 | 78 | Dandenong Stingrays |
| 5 | Noah | Wheeler | 05-Aug-00 | 178 | 79 | Northern Blues |
| 6 | Aiden | Domic | 16-Jul-99 | 185 | 84 | Werribee |
| 7 | Zane | Barzen | 29-Oct-00 | 191 | 78 | Murray Bushrangers |
| 8 | James | Cleaver | 05-Sep-00 | 186 | 80 | GWV Rebels |
| 9 | Charlie | Wilson | 25-Mar-00 | 180 | 82 | Geelong VFL |
| 10 | Matty | Lloyd | 02-Nov-00 | 187 | 82 | GWV Rebels |
| 11 | Kyle | Dunkley | 20-Jun-00 | 185 | 84 | Gippsland Power |
| 13 | Harry | Stubbings | 13-Nov-00 | 185 | 79 | Geelong Falcons |
| 14 | Jed | Hill | 06-Jul-00 | 179 | 70 | GWV Rebels |
| 15 | Riley | Clarke | 18-Jan-00 | 185 | 78 | Bendigo Pioneers |
| 17 | Jacob | Atley | 04-Jul-00 | 191 | 78 | Bendigo Pioneers |
| 18 | Mitch | Riordan | 25-Jan-00 | 187 | 83 | Dandenong Stingrays |
| 21 | Charlie | Sprague | 08-May-00 | 188 | 83 | Geelong Falcons |
| 22 | Sam | Christensen | 04-Feb-00 | 192 | 80 | Geelong Falcons |
| 24 | Sam | Glover | 06-Dec-96 | 192 | 85 | Collingwood VFL |
| 25 | Liam | Fiore | 06-Mar-00 | 195 | 86 | Murray Bushrangers |
| 27 | Riley | Bowman | 25-Feb-00 | 198 | 89 | Sandringham Dragons |
| 28 | Ben | Kelly | 17-Feb-00 | 200 | 96 | Murray Bushrangers |
| 29 | Kyle | Reid | 12-Aug-00 | 193 | 90 | Geelong VFL |
| 30 | Bailey | Schmidt | 07-Mar-00 | 201 | 100 | Dandenong Stingrays |
