In a few short months the International Cup will kick off in Melbourne, and one of the teams making the journey is the Great Britain Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs squad consits of 28 players – three from Scotland, three from Wales and the rest from England.
The team includes fourteen players presently based in Australia – ten from Melbourne, one from Port Lincoln, two from Brisbane and one from the Gold Coast.
Eligibility rules say that you must have lived in the country you represent between the age of 10 and 16. UK-based players are screened and tested before Christmas and then again at Easter to make sure they are prepared for the journey south.
The international team members will leave Britain and fly to Australia, meeting their Australia-based compatriates just two days before the tournament is due to begin. They won’t even have a practice match – the team’s first game together will be their first game in the International Cup.
The Bulldogs are coached by Mark Apitura, who has been head coach of the side since 2009. He has an assistant coach, a physio and two runners to assist him. A relatively small operation compared to what some countries will send.
Great Britain has had a mixed fortune on the International Australian football scene in the last year. A Bulldogs side won the 9-a-side EU Cup in Bordeaux last year, while in the 18-a-side European Championship they went down by a point to top-ranked European side Ireland.
British sides have competed at every International Cup since 2002, however they have never finished higher than sixth and are currently ranked 11th, having finished seventh at the last Cup with a winning percentage of 45 per cent.
The close game against the highly rated Irish side at the European Championships puts the Bulldogs within reach of the tournament’s big four sides. Ireland have won the tournament twice, New Zealand and New Guinea once each.
Apitura believes that if his squad can gel quickly, and if they can get a little bit of luck, they can achieve their tournament goal of finishing higher than seventh. However, he also added that all countries will be seeking to improve, making it a bigger challenge.
The 2014 International Cup begins on August 9th in Melbourne.
Players to watch
Sam Willat – a centre half forward from Birmingham, Willat comes from a football and basketball background. The coach says he has a great pair of hands and good speed for his size.
Sean Waltan – the team captain from the Birmingham Bears. Sean will be at his second tournament, and was part of the team that won the EU Cup last year in france – being named to the team of the tournament. The coach is expecting him to have a very good tournament.
You can find the full team line up on the AFL England website.
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