By Russell Bennett
The West Gippsland Warriors will take a mixture of youth and experience into their assault on Division 2 of the VCCL’s Melbourne Country Week next week.
More than half of this year’s 15-man final squad are returning players from the group that emerged victorious from Division 3 last year.
Skipper Dom Paynter and vice-captain Aaron Avery will once again be joined by Mark Cooper, Chris Bright, Rob Elston, Josh Lownds, Ben Spicer and Jason Williams while Tooradin star Tom Hussey has also joined the mix.
While a number of other, experienced players were unavailable for selection this year, WGCA Country Week coordinator Phil Anning said he and the selection panel are “absolutely rapt” with the final squad.
“Dom had a good chat to the young blokes in the side on Sunday and told them to just enjoy the experience,” Anning said.
“We’re really looking forward to taking Nick Sadler, Mitch Cammarano, Mitch Thomas, Tyler Clark and Kallan Braid-Ball. We just think that those five young blokes will bring some youthful enthusiasm, and they’re in good form too so they’ve deserved their opportunity to go.
“Once we knew some of our more experienced players were unavailable for whatever reason, we had no hesitation in going down the path of taking some of those kids.
“When you’ve still got a blend with blokes like Huss (Hussey), Dom (Paynter), Robbie (Elston), Wombat (Bright), and Coops (Cooper) it’s a good mix and I think the boys will equip themselves really well.
“They played a very important part last year in getting us up into Division 2 so it’s really good that they want to come back and cement and consolidate our position in Division 2 for years to come. In the past we’ve been promoted and dropped back pretty quickly the next year or two, so what we want to do now is consolidate our position in Division 2 and really give a good account of ourselves.”
The Warriors will open their campaign on Monday at Yarrambat against Bendigo and District before also taking on the South West Cricket Association at Ivanhoe, and Sunraysia at Greenvale.
WGCA 2018 COUNTRY WEEK SQUAD
Dom Paynter [captain] (Pakenham)
Aaron Avery [vice captain] (Tooradin)
Tom Hussey (Tooradin)
Mark Cooper (Kooweerup)
Chris Bright (Kooweerup)
Kallan Braid-Ball (Cardinia)
Mitch Cammarano (Kooweerup)
Tyler Clark (Officer)
Rob Elston (Pakenham)
Josh Lownds (Tooradin)
Troy McDermott (Pakenham)
Ben Spicer (Kooweerup)
Nick Sadler (Clyde)
Mitch Thomas (Merinda Park)
Jason Williams (Pakenham)
