PLAYERS from the Wimmera will head to the Northern Territory during the off-season to play in the Northern Territory Football League.
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Wimmera league players Brock Orval, Sam Weddell and James Wray of the Southern Mallee Giants will all feature for the Waratah Warriors in the league’s top division, the premier league.
Minyip-Murtoa’s Kieran Delahunty and the Swifts’ Ben Taylor will also be paying in the Northern Territory for St Mary’s.
Orval said they would play their first game on Friday night.
“We have our first game on Friday night in the premier league and this year Sam and I will probably play about 6-8 games,” he said.
“We won’t be staying there for the whole six months like last year. We are up there for a week first up to play two games. It will depend on work and that kind of thing moving forward.
“We lived up there for the whole season last year. It can be a fairly big trip.
“James Wray will be coming too and he is originally from Darwin, so we will be flying up together.”
Weddell won the best and fairest last season for the Waratah Warriors and said he was keen to play for them again.
“We aren’t relocating this year unfortunately but I can’t wait to get back into it,” he said.
“It’s a different level of fitness because of the humidity and playing conditions. I was a fair bit fitter when I came back to play for the Giants this year.
“My body was a bit tired at the end of this season but we will aim for six games so we can play finals.”
Orval said he enjoyed his first season playing football in the Northern Territory during the 2017/18 season.
“It’s just different but the lifestyle is really enjoyable,” he said.
“The weather is always good and you know a lot of people already going up there playing with our club. We are lucky with our club too and it is a very young club and a social one. That was really enjoyable too.”
Orval and the Giants have only just finished their Wimmera Football League campaign after losing to Horsham in the grand final.
“The body is falling alright but I don’t think I could do another full season over summer,” he said.
“That’s why I’ll play a few games and keep that fitness up. It’s a pretty fast pace up there and the heat really takes it out of you.
“It will be good to get some training runs in the next week up there because I don’t imagine I’ll be doing much training between now and Christmas.”
The Waratah Warriors take on Palmerston Magpies away from home on Friday night at 7pm.
