NSW Paralympic side ready for Nationals
The 2014 Paralympic Football Nationals has attracted an enormous amount of attention and for good reason.
This year the Paralympic Nationals will be played in Coffs Harbour alongside the able bodied Boy’s Nationals, a testament to the growing popularity of the sport.
Secondly, Queensland, NSW, South Australia, Western Australia, Victoria and the ACT will be represented.
Last year was strongest and most even fought championships in the decorated 10 year history.
The strength and experience of the NSW team prevailed in the end in a tense hard fought final, eventually winning 4-1 over Queensland.
This year is again shaping up as a very even championship with every state boasting a mix of flair, talent and experience.
Starting with the current national champions NSW, on paper, looks quite strong.
Boasting a plethora of talent across the park with current Pararoos Chris Pyne, Ben Atkins, James Turner, Jack Williams, Brett Fairhall and the return of rising star Connor Marsh, they’ll be hard to stop. It’s exciting to see them bring along four young debutants in Granit Haliti, Zac Jones, Mathew Hearne and Harrison Dowdell who the coaches believe all have future Pararoo potential.
An experienced state player Ben Sutton will have to be called upon to step up in the FT6 classification. While the generation next trio of James Hunt, Gordon Allan and Shaun McCann have benefitted from a year of development and are raring to give the other states a real challenge in their second nationals.
Coaches Ian Menzies and Bill Gurney have done an amazing job to create such a formidable and envious production line of young exciting talent.
The NSW Squad:
CHRIS PYNE (C) BEN ATKINS (VC)
BRETT FAIRHALL JACK WILLIAMS
CONNOR MARSH JAMES TURNER
BEN SUTTON GORDON ALLAN
SHAUN McCANN GRANIT HALITI
MATT HEARNE ZAC JONES
JAMES HUNT HARRISON DOWDELL
