The success of the Gisborne cricket program continues to shine through.
The Dragons have long had players selected in the Central Highlands representative teams and this season is no different – 13 past or present Dragons have been named in state championship teams.
Georgia Kerr, Imogen Barlow, Kameka Barnes, Tanae Bannan and Georgia Paton were all part of the under-18 girls team which competed last year, while Roby Lane, Riley Vernon, Joel Garbutt and Sam McCaskill are part of the under-18 boys team which played last week.
Sam Mackay and Josh McDonald are in the under-16 boys team, while Spencer Jones is in the under-14 boys and Bridget Barlow in the under-16 girls.
Dragons’ president Andrew Headberry said the club was extremely proud of the players selected for the Central Highlands sides.
“This hasn’t been a one-off thing, it’s been going on for a number of years,” he said of the selections.
“I think it’s become a culture at the club.
“The kids see that some of the people they were playing with two to three years beforehand are stepping up. The kids see what those before them have done and want to do that themselves.”
Headberry said it was also reward for the parents who do a lot of the hard work driving the players around.
He said another encouraging thing for the younger players, is that they know if they perform well there could be higher honours on the radar.
Kerr, Lane and MacKay were all named captains of their respective sides.
Roby Lane, who was part of the Dragons’ McIntyre Cup premiership last year, was part of the Victorian under-19 country team at the national championships last year.
Also in the team was former Dragon Tom Rogers, who scored the most runs at the championships. Matt Underwood and Pat McKenna were also part of state teams in the past five years.
Georgia Kerr was named an emergency for the girls under-18 state team for the national championships late last year. Headberry said she was unlucky to miss out on making that side.
Headberry said Gisborne was one of the biggest clubs in the region and ensured it was putting in the resources to help all cricketers at the club further develop their skills.
