Two of Shepparton’s talented footballing exports have earned selection in the West Australian Football League’s state representative squad.
The two footballers are former Shepparton United and VFL star Jye Chalcraft and Shepparton and South Australia National Football League gun Nik Rokahr, both of whom made the journey to Western Australia during the off-season to play for Swan Districts.
Chalcraft, Rokahr and Swans teammates Jesse Turner and Tom Edwards have been selected in the starting squad of 34, with the side training on Monday nights before it plays one match against the SANFL representative team on May 19.
The squad will be cut down to a 23-man team for the game.
The call-up to the representative side has been made even more impressive by the fact that Chalcraft and Rokahr have only played four games in the league.
Not surprisingly, both players have had blistering starts for their new club, with two-time Norwood best-and-fairest winner Rokahr averaging 32.5 touches a game, while two-time Geelong VFL best-and-fairest winner Chalcraft has also been a football magnet, averaging 30.3 disposals.
Midfielder Chalcraft, 23, said he felt honoured to receive the call-up to the state squad.
“It’s a privilege,” he said.
“I wasn’t really expecting it, but it was good that I got noticed, as I think I have been playing all right the last few weeks.
“It’s good to be alongside ‘Roks’ and two of the other boys from the side (Swans).
“But I’m still focused on Swan Districts and trying to get a couple more wins.”
Despite his dominance in the VFL for the Cats, Chalcraft was never able to play representative football due to the league opting not to select a representative side during his time in the competition — the VFL played its first representative match in seven years recently in April against the SANFL.
The WAFL season may only be four rounds in, but Chalcraft is already enjoying his time in black and white as he hopes his experience with the representative side will help develop his game even further.
“I’ve been loving it (his time at Swan Districts),” he said.
“It’s a good family club and everyone is in a tight-knit group, so it’s really been enjoyable and they are all good lads too, so that makes it a lot better.
“We (the state side) had training on Monday and it was just sort of for us all to get to know each other.
“I don’t know too many of them, though, because I haven’t played most of them yet.
“But you can just tell that they are classy and good movers, so it’s pretty good to train alongside the best in WA.”
Some notable names in the WAFL representative squad include former AFL players Trey Ruscoe (Collingwood), Hamish Brayshaw (West Coast), Greg Clarke (West Coast), Mitch Crowden (Fremantle) and Brynn Teakle (Port Adelaide).