Determination, dedication, hard work and a dream is guiding Penola youngster Anders McShane toward elite football career.
The promising 18-year-old has played football as long as he can remember, including under 14s and two years of under 17s for the Penola Football club.
He moved to Adelaide in 2022 to attend Westminster school where he now plays football, while also taking the field for the Glenelg Football club in the under 18s.
This year Anders was selected in the SA under 18 state team, which was chosen from the last two years of SANFL and school footy games.
As part of the selection, an original talent ‘hub’ was developed at the start of this year.
“Unfortunately I was not chosen in this hub, which goes along way to being in the final state squad,” Anders said.
“I then had to play some really good footy at the start of the SANFL season to get my name out there and to try and crack it into the state squad.”
The squad was announced after round three of the SANFL and unfortunately once again he missed out on being named in the original state squad.
Although Anders was extremely disappointed, he continued to try and play his best footy possible over the next month and still turn some heads.
About a month later he received a phone call and was introduced into the state side as a late inclusion based on his recent good form.
The original squad included 34 players, increasing to 35 when Anders was added.
The squad trained two to three times a week for long periods on weeknights with games played on weekends.
The team, coached by former Port Magpies player Tony Bamford, also played two trial games against NSW and the under 20 SA state team two weeks prior to the carnival.
“I was lucky enough to play in the two trial matches as well as the first two games of the carnival against the Allies and Victoria Metro,” Anders said.
He played as a midfielder throughout these games and found it was a great experience to test himself against the best talent in the country.
“I have always loved playing footy and have never found it not enjoyable.
It has always been one of my easiest ways to create strong friendships, and I have always been fortunate to play with so many of my best mates,” he said.
Following the carnival Anders has returned to his Westminster and Glenelg teams for the remainder of the season, and hopes than he can play good football before nominating for the national draft in November.
Hopefully his Glenelg team can finish off the season strongly and sneak into the finals and have the chance to aim for back to back premierships.
“I have had huge support throughout my footy journey from my parents, Trent and Naomi,” Anders said.
“They have spent countless hours driving to Adelaide to get me to trainings and games.”
