Buccaneers duo excited to represent Australia

GEELONG Buccaneers’ Ben Hulyer and Angus Limb will represent Australia for the first time in gridiron next week.

The pair have been selected in the national under-18 American Football Squad to attend a week-long training camp on the Gold Coast, culminating in a game against New Zealand on July 12.

They also play under-18 Australian rules, with Ben at Surf Coast Suns and Angus at Queenscliff.

The close friends are thrilled to be going on the trip north.

“I’m ecstatic, I’m nervous because I don’t want to mess anything up, but I’m excited more than anything,” Ben said.

“I’ve been through all my gridiron years with Ben, so it’s great to be able to share the experience with him,” Angus added.

The teenagers represented Victoria in the recent national championships in Melbourne.

Ben, a Surf Coast Secondary College Year 12 student, loves running and is a wide receiver.

He said he got into the sport after his mum showed him an advertisement for the Buccaneers in the school newsletter.

He went down to training and “never looked back”.

Angus, a defensive end, said he saw a Buccaneers’ post “looking for some of the biggest blokes in the Bellarine”.

“We figured that suited my brother (George) and I. So we went and did a tryout session and then it all went from there. I really enjoyed it.”

Angus said George, who now plays college gridiron in Canada, has been an inspiration.

“He’s paved the way… I’d love to do exactly what he’s doing. I’d like to take my gridiron seriously and take it far, hopefully as a profession,” the Bellarine Secondary College Year 12 said.

Meanwhile, the Buccaneers are running new player sessions as well as their pre-season.

The seniors have already started and the juniors start on Wednesday, July 9.

Training is on Wednesdays with junior sessions from 5.30pm to 7.30pm and the men’s sessions from 6.30pm to 8.30pm at Hendy Street Reserve in Corio.

“We pride ourselves on getting rookies who’ve never seen the sport before into pads and helmets and three or four weeks into what they’re doing, they’re different players; and then three or four months [later] in mid-season, they’re a different group as well,” Buccaneers vice-president Phil Wrochna said.

“So one of the things we do operate on really well is our ability to teach and our ability to make that transition from other sports into our sport.”

The season runs from September to December.