Liam McNally
A delegation of Western Bulldogs’ players hit Melton on Monday, July 3, to help train the next generation of AFL stars.
Four Bulldogs players, Jack Macrae, Mitch Hannan, Ryan Gardner and Riley West visited the Aintree Football Club at Frontier Reserve at 4.30pm for an hour-long clinic.
Around 30 kids between the ages of four and 10 attended the session, which began with some introductory talks before splitting into groups for training drills including kicking, tackle bags and running exercises.
After the training the group gathered for a question and answer session, before photos and autographs.
Aintree Football Club president Nathan Brama said along with questions about favourite games and teammates, under 10’s kids are also good at throwing in some “obscure” questions.
“[It was] Overall a good night…We’re grateful for the support of the Western Bulldogs to come out and train and inspire the kids, the AFL players of the future,” he said.
“Parents enjoyed it as well, a lot of them are Bulldogs supporters.
“It’s good to see the AFL supporting grassroots footy.”
Western Bulldogs engagement manager Campbell Waring said it’s very important for the Western Bulldogs to continue to support grassroots football, “as all our Bulldogs players and AFL players in general were once grassroots junior players themselves”.
“They were the junior players aspiring to become AFL footballers one day and looking up to their role models and heroes, so to visit junior grassroots clubs and have a touch point with the community is vitally important,” he said.
“Our players know the impact that they can have on an individual, by meeting them, shaking their hand, or answering a question – and it may mean the youngster has a new favourite AFL player and maybe even see a few more jump on board the Doggies.”
