2020 Statewide Super SA U18 Girls Academy

By ZAC MILBANK

Magarey Medallist Tim Weatherald will coach the Statewide Super SA U18 Girls Team in 2020 as SANFL releases the 52-player Academy squad for next season.

Weatherald, who featured in Sturt’s 2002 premiership, has been building his coaching resume in the Northern Territory while also acting as Adelaide’s AFLW midfield mentor during the Crows’ dominant 2019 campaign.

Speaking on SANFL Radio, the 42-year-old said his experience at West Lakes, coupled with plying his trade with the NT Thunder’s Women’s and Men’s programs in the past three years had left him with an appetite to develop SA’s best young talent.

Playing in a total of 311 SANFL matches from 1995 to 2011 with Sturt and Norwood, Weatherald is excited to guide SA’s Statewide Super U18 Girls Team as it competes as a standalone side for the first time at the 2020 AFL U18 Girls National Championships next June and July.

Weatherald will be joined by former SA U18 Girls coach Bill Economou, who will combine his new role as SA U16 Girls coach with being the Double Blues’ best-and-fairest winner’s lead assistant in the U18s.

AFLW Academy scholarship holders Teah Charlton (pictured above) and Indy Tahau head the list of those selected in the Croweaters’ squad, with the South Adelaide premiership pair joined by exciting Sturt prospect Zoe Prowse.

West Adelaide ball magnet Abbie Ballard and Central District goal sneak Laitiah Huynh are other prominent Statewide Super Women’s League players set to make their presence felt in the cherished red guernsey.

The Statewide Super SA U18 Girls Academy will gather for the first time on Jaunary 22 next year at Immanuel College for a testing and induction session.

SA is scheduled to host Western Australia in two matches during June next year for Round 1 of the AFL U18 Girls National Championships before confronting arch-rivals Victoria Metro and the Allies in Round 2 on the Gold Coast in July.