Heading into the second game of the two-game Academy series against the Brisbane Lions, GC SUNS Academy Head Coach Andrew Raines has one primary objective.
Winning.
The U18 SUNS Academy team defeated the Lions by 15 points in the opening game in Burpengary last Saturday and Raines is looking for his side to get the job done again on Friday evening.
“Getting the next win, two-nil would be fantastic for us,” Raines told SUNS TV on Wednesday.
“I think the boys are really geed up for another big performance, and obviously they get the state selection at the end.
“But for us, we’re aiming for a two-nil victory for the series.”
READ: Academy series round one results
While the rivalry between the Lions and SUNS remains intense and bringing home bragging rights are of paramount importance, the Academy series serves another significant purpose.
It allows Queensland selectors to scrutinise each player taking the field for both sides and finalise their state squad ahead of the NAB AFL Under 18 championships, which will kick off in May.
If members of the SUNS Academy can fill over half of the Queensland squad, it will be a great achievement for the Gold Coast.
“We play the two games and then they pick the (Queensland) state team out of that so we’ve got state selectors there each game and monitoring also training throughout the pre-season,” Raines said.
“Hopefully we’ll get a fair few of our boys in the squad. The squad’s usually picked at about 30 so if we can get a majority in that’d be great so hopefully over 15 is the ideal number for us.”
