Corowa’s Ryan Eyers has made the 39-player Allies AFL Under 19 squad and will attend the training camp from this Friday to Sunday in Sydney.
Following the camp, a final squad will be decided to contest next month’s AFL Under 19 Championships to be played across a number of weeks with the first game being played early July on the Gold coast at Metricon Stadium, followed by games at the Adelaide oval, Blacktown in Sydney and GMHBA Geelong.
The 17-year-old Murray Bushranger, who has played two senior games with the Roos this season, told The Free Press he is “very humbled by his selection”.
“It is a great opportunity to develop my football and to train and potentially play with some very talented young players,” Ryan said.
The Year 12 student at Galen College Wangaratta has lived in Corowa all his life, representing Corowa Rutherglen, Murray Bushrangers and the NSW State Primary School team.
With the Albury Wodonga Junior Football League Under 16s in 2019, Ryan won the league’s best and fairest award.
After playing in the ruck through juniors, he moved to a more predominant centre-half-forward role for the Murray Bushrangers.
Son of Corowa legend, club Life Member and 301-gamer with the Roos, Brendan Eyers, Ryan’s dad “has always been a mentor for my football, whether it be assistant coaching roles or even just kicking the footy with me in the backyard at a young age”.
“Through juniors I had some great coaches such as Beau Longmire and Dave Melksham, and currently have two very experienced coaches in Mark Brown (Murray Bushrangers) and Peter German (CRFNC) who have been exceptional for my development as a footballer,” Ryan said.
As a very young boy, Eyers junior saw Eyers senior play and has some fond memories of him playing. “More recent memories have been of a return in the Corowa’s reserves after being retired for a number of years,” Ryan said. “It was very funny to watch the old fella!”