ANDREWS HOPES TO ACHIEVE CHILDHOOD DREAM
By KRISTEN ALEBAKIS
Werribee Districts young gun Daly Andrews said he felt privileged and honoured to put on the Vic Metro jumper in the recent NAB AFL Under 18 Championships.
Andrews, who is currently playing with the Western Jets in the TAC Cup competition, said the championships was a great opportunity to test his skills against some of the best players in Australia.
He played in Vic Metro’s Round 2 game against the Allies, but unfortunately suffered delayed concussion and wasn’t able to play out the rest of the championships.
“I played in the second game of the championships against the Allies up in the Gold Coast and I was pretty happy with my game,” Andrews said.
“I had a lot of fun in a great 2-point win.
“I missed out the remainder of the championships due to delayed concussion which was disappointing as I was looking forward to playing on the MCG and Etihad.”
Andrews said it was great to have some familiar faces in the Vic Metro squad, with five WRFL players picked in the squad in 2018.
“I was fortunate enough to be in the program with some other WRFL players and good mates like Buku Khamis, Emerson Jeka, Xavier O’Halloran and Lachlan Sholl,” he said.
“Having a past friendship with them made it a lot easier for me to settle in at the level and feel a lot more comfortable in that environment.”
Andrews played for Werribee Centrals and more recently with Werribee Districts in the WRFL.
He also represented the league twice at the Vic Metro Junior Championships in 2014 and 2015 and won the Under 13 Division 1 Best and Fairest Award in 2013 and Under 11 Division 1 Best and Fairest in 2011.
“I was just really lucky to be around some quality kids and to play alongside some lifelong friends throughout my years playing in the WRFL,” Andrews said.
“Also meeting heaps of new people along the way and having endless amounts of support throughout juniors helped develop myself and my footy a lot quicker.”
There is now four games remaining in the TAC Cup season, with the Western Jets siting in sixth position.
Andrews said he hoped the team could finish the year off strongly.
“I hope to have a really good end to the year finishing the season off strongly with the Jets and try to go as far into the TAC cup finals as we can,” he said.
“After that I hope to be lucky enough to land on an AFL list which would be a dream come true.”
Andrews said hearing his name being called out on draft night would make his lifelong dream a reality.
“It would mean everything to me to be lucky enough to land on an AFL list,” he said.
“It would give me the opportunity to continue to develop my footy in an elite environment, learning from the best.”