The under 12 and 14 teams finished eighth and ninth across the 16-team junior tournament held at Dandenong Stadium.

Both coaches Matt Alexander (under 12s) and Shane Smith (under 14s) said they were proud of the efforts their sides put into the competition, which featured teams from Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra and Adelaide. 

Alexander said his under-sized team was not intimidated by the city-based teams.

“We played teams with big catchment areas of around 500,000 people, compared to us in Warrnambool with 40,000,” he said.

“The boys never gave up. We did get behind in a few games, but they really fought hard to come back and they didn’t drop off their efforts. I’m really proud of them.”

The under 12s won two games and were defeated three times, while the under 14s started slowly with three-straight close losses before storming home with two victories to finish the tournament strongly.