The 2019 AFL Victoria Young Guns Series continues this weekend, with game 2 taking place at Adcon Stadium in Port Melbourne on Sunday from 11am.
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 second match.
* See the initial squad lists (still subject to change) for game 2 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).
In addition, three players who competed in the first Young Guns game in early May were selected in the recent NAB AFL Mid-Season Rookie Draft: Kyle Dunkley (ex-Gippsland Power/now Melbourne), Mitch Riordan (Dandenong Stingrays/Gold Coast) and Cody Hirst (Eastern Ranges/Sydney).
The Young Guns program is being 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 is developing 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 2 of the Young Guns Series will be played as a curtain-raiser to the VFL match between Port Melbourne and Collingwood at 2pm.
CITY TEAM (BLACK GUERNSEYS)
| NO. | NAME | DOB | HT | WT | NAB LEAGUE/VFL CLUB | |
| 2 | Nick | Kempe | 24-Feb-98 | 180 | 75 | Collingwood VFL |
| 3 | Bailey | Lambert | 07-May-99 | 183 | 86 | Richmond VFL |
| 4 | Joseph | Ayton-Delaney | 25-Mar-00 | 180 | 74 | Oakleigh Chargers |
| 5 | Nick | Baltas | 16-Aug-98 | 183 | 75 | Richmond VFL |
| 6 | Josh | Kemp | 13-Apr-00 | 183 | 73 | Calder Cannons |
| 8 | Angus | Hanrahan | 09-Aug-00 | 183 | 74 | Sandringham Dragons |
| 9 | Tom | Mundy | 23-Sep-99 | 185 | 81 | Williamstown |
| 11 | Riley | Verbi | 17-Jun-98 | 182 | 73 | North Melbourne VFL |
| 12 | Michael | Marotta | 28-Apr-98 | 187 | 88 | Collingwood VFL |
| 13 | Matthew | Day | 01-Apr-99 | 190 | 86 | Essendon VFL |
| 14 | Muhammed | Saad | 24-Sep-98 | 186 | 89 | Coburg |
| 16 | Sam | Graham | 24-Jun-00 | 185 | 76 | Calder Cannons |
| 19 | Lachlan | Farrugia | 04-Nov-99 | 190 | 87 | Footscray |
| 21 | Lachlan | Street | 25-Jun-98 | 191 | 87 | Richmond VFL |
| 22 | Wilson | Berry | 08-Jun-98 | 193 | 80 | Essendon VFL |
| 23 | Jack | Scanlon | 31-May-99 | 194 | 87 | Coburg |
| 24 | Mason | Fletcher | 08-Apr-00 | 200 | 78 | Calder Cannons |
| 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 |
| 28 | Joel | Cusack | 21-Mar-98 | 197 | 97 | Richmond VFL |
| 30 | Riley | Smith | 31-Jul-00 | 199 | 101 | Eastern Ranges |
EMERGENCIES
| 15 | Ayce | Taylor | 26-Sep-00 | 190 | 81 | Northern Knights |
| 29 | Aaron | Clarke | 02-May-00 | 194 | 86 | Western Jets |
COUNTRY TEAM (GREEN GUERNSEYS)
| NO. | NAME | DOB | HT | WT | NAB LEAGUE/VFL CLUB | |
| 1 | Boadie | Motton | 20-Apr-00 | 180 | 77 | Box Hill Hawks |
| 4 | Jai | Nanscawen | 31-Mar-00 | 184 | 78 | Dandenong Stingrays |
| 6 | Aiden | Domic | 16-Jul-99 | 185 | 84 | Werribee |
| 7 | Zane | Barzen | 29-Oct-00 | 191 | 78 | Murray Bushrangers |
| 8 | Lachlan | McDonnell | 22-May-00 | 187 | 81 | Frankston |
| 9 | Alex | Cincotta | 17-Dec-96 | 188 | 83 | Geelong VFL |
| 10 | Liam | Mackie | 24-Aug-98 | 186 | 80 | Box Hill Hawks |
| 11 | Bailey | Henderson | 20-Oct-99 | 188 | 82 | Richmond VFL |
| 12 | Sean | O'Farrell | 18-Feb-00 | 191 | 87 | Bendigo Pioneers |
| 13 | Harry | Stubbings | 13-Nov-00 | 185 | 79 | Geelong Falcons |
| 14 | Phil | Solomon | 21-Sep-00 | 188 | 87 | Murray Bushrangers |
| 15 | Riley | Clarke | 18-Jan-00 | 185 | 78 | Bendigo Pioneers |
| 16 | Riley | D'Arcy | 28-Dec-99 | 190 | 91 | Frankston |
| 18 | Cooper | Jones | 25-Nov-98 | 193 | 86 | Geelong VFL |
| 22 | Sam | Christensen | 04-Feb-00 | 192 | 80 | Geelong Falcons |
| 23 | Liam | Fiore | 06-Mar-00 | 195 | 86 | Murray Bushrangers |
| 24 | Adam | Garner | 12-Jan-99 | 194 | 99 | Geelong VFL |
| 26 | Sam | Conway | 17-May-99 | 202 | 89 | Williamstown |
| 27 | Corey | Ellison | 24-Aug-00 | 194 | 86 | Dandenong Stingrays |
| 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 |
EMERGENCIES
| 19 | James | Cleaver | 05-Sep-00 | 186 | 80 | GWV Rebels |
| 20 | Matty | Lloyd | 02-Nov-00 | 187 | 82 | GWV Rebels |
