Who impressed for WA at the National Under-15 Championships

Some familiar last names amongst the players who made their first real mark on the WA footy talent pathways.

Over the past month some of the best and brightest footballers headed to Queensland to compete for WA’s under-15s in the School Sport Australia games.

It’s arguably the entry point to the WA Talent pathways - there’s no official link with WA Football, but there is a relationship and many of the players cross over into the under-16s or WAFL futures.

The boys outfit was coached by Tom Moscarda, while Subiaco legend Darren Rumble took the reigns of the girls program for the first time.

What’s impressed me most about the under-15s is just how far and wide they go to trial kids - some of whom are getting into this kind of program for the first time, and receiving individualised training and S&C programs for the first time as well.

The boys program trialled more than 700 kids from as far and wide as Karratha, Esperance, Kalgoorlie, Albany and Geraldton to form a squad of 25. The girls trialled more than 200 across regional and metro areas, with the furthest coming from Kununurra, and unearthed a few unknown prospects who are now aligned to a WAFL club.

Below, we’ll dive into results from both the boys and girls champs, plus some names to watch over coming years through the WA Talent, WAFL colts, Rogers Cup and WAFLW programs.

It’s obviously not a complete list, and congratulations are in order for every player picked, their parents, the staff and WA Football for their support of the teams. But it’s worth calling out a few standouts as mentioned in a survey of all of the previous groups and other onlookers as well.

Before we get into it, just another thanks to everyone who has jumped on board this project across the first couple of weeks. If you’ve got any feedback feel free to reply to this email and let me know.

OK, let’s get stuck in.