Former South Bendigo and Bendigo Gold midfielder Tom Hams heads Gippsland’s training squad for next month’s AFL Victoria Community Championships clash with Bendigo.
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Hams, who now plays for Bairnsdale, was one of 40 players named by coach Steve Hazelman.
One major omission for Gippsland is former Essendon midfielder Jason Winderlich. The speedster is playing for Traralgon this year, but was not named in the inter-league squad.
The squad features 14 players from the Gippsland side that defeated Yarra Valley by 71 points at Drouin last year, including AFL Victoria Country medallist Daniel Nicholls and AFL Victoria Country One representatives Bob McCallum and Mark Collison.
All 10 Gippsland clubs are represented in the initial squad, with last year’s grand finalists Leongatha and Traralgon leading the way with eight inclusions each.
“With not a lot of exits from our league this year and the introduction of some really high quality players into the league we are very happy with our initial squad,” Hazelman said.
“We see this as a great opportunity for us to beat Bendigo and we encourage everyone in the Gippsland region to come and support our boys and watch a great game of footy.”
High-profile inclusions to the Gippsland squad this year include former Port Melbourne key defender Sam Pleming.
Gippsland has also named a train-on squad of six of the league’s most promising under-19 players.
The Bendigo-Gippsland clash will be played at Warragul on May 21.
Gippsland League inter-league squad: Tom Hams (Bairnsdale), Daniel Nicholls, Ben Hughes, Todd Beck, Bob McCallum (Drouin), Aaron Hillberg, Tom Marriott, Chris Dunne, Luke Bowman, Chris Verboon, Dale Houghton, Shem Hawking, Zac Vernon (Leongatha), Sam Pleming, Daniel Bedggood (Maffra), Tom Long, James Blaser (Moe), Tim Ryan, Joel Soutar (Morwell), Kane Martin, Jack Lipman, John Gooch, Andrew Quirk (Sale), Mark Collison, Michael Stockdale, Matt Northe, Tim Northe, Adrian Slottje, Ben Amberg, Danny Campbell, Jake Vucenovic (Traralgon), Brayden Fowler, Nath Paredas, Matt Rennie, Brad Scalzo (Warragul), Byron Dryden, Aiden Lindsay, Shannon Bray, Dom O'Connor, Braeden McLean (Wonthaggi Power).
Train-on players: Dylan Proctor (Warragul), Tyler Hillier (Morwell), Ben Dessent, Lachie Ronchi (Sale), Darnell Grech (Moe), Jackson McMahaon (Traralgon).
