TALENTED Wimmera athletes are set to benefit from a new development program that could link the Western Bulldogs and the North Ballarat Rebels.
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The move is part of an AFL program where clubs establish player academies in various parts of Victoria.
It follows the successful academies established in the northern part of the country.
The program will aim to develop multicultural and indigenous talent in the Wimmera.
The Bulldogs have been allocated areas in western Melbourne and western Victoria to establish their player academies.
The program will give the club similar discounts in the AFL draft to those offered to clubs who already have player academy selections.
The AFL has not released full details about how the academies will run.
Rebels development coach Jaye Macumber said the program would likely be about involving people from different backgrounds in football.
“We have got the Karen population in Nhill for example,” he said.
“We’d basically be saying the Bulldogs will be having an academy here where we can go out and get seven or eight Karen kids between the ages of 10 and 15 and teach them Aussie rules.
“From then maybe we see someone stand out and put them into the next pathway, which would be the under-16 Rebels side”.
The Bulldogs’ regional zone will cover from Warrnambool in the south to the Mallee in the north, with Ballarat and the South Australian border marking the east-west boundaries.
In addition to recruiting players from various multicultural backgrounds, the program has also been mooted as a chance for clubs to identify athletes who have developed football abilities through other sports such as basketball or soccer.
Macumber said the program would be a great opportunity for the Wimmera regardless of the format it took.
“We can really try to identify that one special kid, like some of the Sundanese-born kids drafted this year,” he said.
“There might be those kids who have moved here but have no idea what Aussie rules is who could benefit.”
Macumber said AFL was traditionally the most popular sport in Victoria, but a rise in the popularity other sports meant athletes had access to development pathways in a variety of codes.
