THE Bendigo Pioneers are well represented in the Victoria Country under-18 girls squad for the upcoming AFL National Championships.
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Six Pioneers players have been named in the squad - Lou Painter, Lavinia Cox, Jemmika Douglas, Sienna Hobbs, Sasha Pearce and Alexis Gregor.
As well as her selection in the Victoria Country squad, Painter - the reigning Pioneers' girls best and fairest - is also part of this year's AFL National Academy, while Cox is combining her football with the Pioneers with basketball in the NBL1 with the Bendigo Braves women.
Last Saturday Cox was named among the Pioneers' best players in their Coates Talent League loss to the Dandenong Stingrays, while later that night she suited up for the Braves women, playing almost 18 minutes and scoring six points in a loss to the Keilor Thunder.
Bendigo is the equal most represented team in the Victoria Country Squad, with the Geelong Falcons also having six players selected.
As well as the six players selected from the Pioneers and Falcons, the squad also features five players from the Dandenong Stingrays and Gippsland Power, four from the Greater Western Victoria Rebels and two from the Murray Bushrangers.
The AFL National Championships will feature six teams - Queensland, South Australia, Victoria Country, Victoria Metro, Western Australia and the Allies - with Victoria Country's first game to be against Queensland at Ipswich on Sunday, July 7.
The Victoria Country side is being coached by Geelong's Mel Hickey.
Victoria Country schedule:
July 7 - v Queensland at Ipswich.
July 14 - v Victoria Metro at IKON Park.
August 11 - v Western Australia at RSEA Park.
The Bendigo Pioneers girls have the bye this weekend, with their next match against Gippsland at Highgate Recreation Reserve on Saturday, July 20.
Coates League girls ladder - Oakleigh (8-1), Eastern (7-2), Tasmania (7-3), Dandenong (6-3), Gippsland (5-4), Northern (5-4), Geelong (5-3), Gold Coast (4-0), Brisbane Lions (3-1), Bendigo (3-6), GWV Rebels (3-6), Sandringham (3-6), GWS Giants (2-1), Western (2-6), Sydney Swans (1-3), Northern Territory (1-1), Calder (1-8), Murray (0-8).
