Photo credit: AFL Photos
THE future of the EFL is looking bright.
A number of the competition’s best juniors recently competed for Vic Metro in the under-16 national championships, with two boys managing to crack the All-Australian under-16 side.
The dynamic duo from Lysterfield of Tyler Sonsie (pictured above) and Jake Soligo impressed for Vic Metro, with Sonsie being named the team’s MVP and earning All-Australian selection for his hard work and great play.
The boys’ former interleague coach Brett Davidson had high praise for the youngsters.
“He’s (Tyler Sonsie) always been on the radar as an exceptional player; probably elite on both sides of his body, an accumulator of possessions and good around goal as well,” Davidson said.
“Good in the air, works really hard, there’s no doubt he’s got a drive to want to play AFL eventually, that’s certainly something in the way he goes about his football.
“Tyler’s really easy to coach, listens well and the progression we’ve seen year to year has been really high.”
Davidson said Soligo was someone he rates just as highly as Sonsie and the pair should both aspire to one day playing AFL.
“Jake was new to our program last year, he came from the South Metro league the year before,” Davidson said.
“I rate him as highly as Tyler, he’s an exceptionally talented player, real inside player, hard tackler, smart around the contest, uses the ball extremely well and very coachable.
“I think AFL is something he’s looking at. I think both of them have certainly got the potential to go further with football, it just depends how much they’re willing to work.”
Davidson also had high praise for Blackburn young gun Youseph Dib. Coming off a pair of horror injuries Dib has returned to footy in as good a way possible, shaking off the injury woes.
Dib was also among Vic Metro’s best and was the second EFL youngster who earned himself selection in the All-Australian under-16 team, something Davidson said Dib really deserved after all he’s faced.
“He’s a great story,” Davidson said.
“In his first year of interleague – under-14s interleague – he broke his leg in a club match, I think he’s also had a broken arm at some stage but his progression has been huge.
“Oakleigh Chargers have been playing him as a pressure forward, his tackling and his aggression at the footy is elite.
“His ability to win his own football, get it inside 50 and keep it inside 50 is elite and he’s really improved on his disposal and manages to kick goals, so it’s been fantastic to see the way he’s progressed.”
Furthermore, on the horizon are two exhibition games between the Flying Boomerangs – an all-Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander team – and the ‘World’ team, made up entirely of multicultural players from across the country.
The two teams consist of boys aged 14-16-years-old and the EFL has two representatives – Tyrese Pompino for the Boomerangs and Joshua Bennetts for the ‘World’ team.
Davidson said granting these sorts of opportunities to kids is a great endeavour and helps the young boys and girls progress even further in their young careers.
“It is sensational, I think it was last year where nearly five boys from our under-15 interleague team made the Australian inter-cultural team,” Davidson said.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity for the kids to get some more exposure and that’s the key to these things, it gives the kids an exposure to future pathways and all the NAB scouts and AFL scouts come out and have a look at the young boys and girls playing in these sorts of competitions.
“That’s what’s giving them a great opportunity to just showcase their talents.”