PLAYER retention is strong at North Ballarat Rebels with more hopefuls than ever before still vying to get on the Rebels’ TAC Cup under-18 football list.
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More than 150 boys across western Victoria have their final pre-Christmas training session on Thursday night. The Rebels have a further 150 boys in under-16 training and about 50 players in the youth girls’ squad.
AFL Victoria Rebels talent manager Phil Partington said the club understood the intense Rebels program was not for everyone but this pre-season candidates were out in force.
“This means we’re selecting the right players to trial and players are enthused,” Partington said. “This is also the busiest pre-season we’ve had in my time with the Rebels. The program is getting more professional. It’s also about getting more staff involved and more players involved.”
The Rebels have four satellite training bases outside Ballarat in Horsham, Camperdown, Warrnambool and Hamilton.
TAC Cup programs are structured in a modified AFL-like environment. Under-18 hopefuls have been training three times a week the past month with conditioning and game sense on Mondays, conditioning on Wednesdays and skills on Thursday nights.
Under-16s boys have joined under-18 squad training on Wednesdays for a taste of training at the next level.
Rebels will break until a TAC Cup testing day on January 22 with a full training to resume once school is back.