AFL Hunter Central Coast young talent on display vs South Coast

Photo by Bruce Edmiston

Written by James Gardener

Originally published in the Newcastle Herald

 

It’s little wonder Warners Bay young gun Isaiah Olsen has been fast-tracked by the Sydney Swans.

The talented teenager produced an eye-catching effort for Hunter Central Coast in a hard-fought win over the South Coast on Saturday night. Playing on the wing, Olsen, with his speed and clean hands, was a class above as the home side triumphed 12.16 (88) to 6.11 (47) at Pasterfield Sports Complex.

He has had couple of games for the Sydney Swans in the NEAFL (reserves) competition and is just electric when he gets on the ball Hunter Central co-coach Tim Cotter said. They were trying to make it congested and had lots of players around the ball. Isaiah would cruise through, pick it up, come out the other side and move the ball. He had the cleanest hands on the ground.

Olsen wasn’t the only youngster to make an impact. Braydon Tos, from Wyong-Lakes , was outstanding, Cotter said. He played at fullback and had lots of oneon-ones where he had to be the man to do the job and he did.

Hunter Central Coast kicked three goals in the opening quarter to lead 3.6 (24) to 1.2 (8). They added another three in the second term to extend the margin to 22 points.

The telling quarter was the third. Again the home side landed three major but South Coast managed only one despite having eight scoring shots. It was quite a a tight game, Cotter said. As we expected, they had some quality players. If they kicked a little straighter in the third quarter , it might have been a big final term.

Apart from the rookies, Cotter praised the work of experienced duo Nick Tomlinson and Cameron Keast.