Juniors bigger and better than ever

Sonny Dusting from Northern Beaches breaks away from a South West Rocks Dockers opponent. Photo: Brad Greenshields

Sunday will see the start of the AFL North Coast’s junior competition in what promises to be an exciting 2023.

There’s a new age group, new clubs and a record number of junior teams.

The Lower Clarence Suns and North Coffs are entering teams this year. Both of the new clubs will be fielding a team in the new non-competitive Under 10 age group which has been introduced to provide a transition from Auskick to competitive football.

The six junior age groups will have a total of 45 teams across them.

This is a 45% increase on the number of teams that played in 2022.

The rise doesn’t just come from teams entered into the new non-competitive age group.

The number of Youth Girls teams have risen 33% on last year.

Competition Coordinator Brad Greenshields said there’ll be no shortage of junior footy each Sunday.

“This season there’ll be 20 junior matches played each weekend and these games will be played across an even wider catchment area for the AFL North Coast,” Greenshields said.

“The new Lower Clarence Suns club which is based in Yamba means games will be played all the way from Yamba in the north down to Port Macquarie in the south.”

CLICK HERE to view the fixtures for each AFL North Coast grade and age group.