EMERGING Port Fairy forward Jake Bartlett knows the more time he spends around the Seagulls' stars the better he will become.
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The 19-year-old builder, who played all his juniors with Kolora-Noorat before crossing over to Gardens Oval in 2017, is hoping to establish himself in the Seagulls' attack in his first season out of the under 18.5 system.
Bartlett, who won junior premierships with the Power, said playing coach Dan Nicholson, ruckman Sandy Robertson and key forward Sam McCartney had been his main influences since coming into the side.
"They are just really professional players because of the amount of football they have played," he said.
"Dan knows a lot about the game and I've also got Sandy and Sam up there too. They're all handy footballers and they're great for teaching you what you need to know."
Bartlett will play his second game against Cobden after being dropped for the Seagulls' win against Portland in round two.
Port Fairy assistant coach Winis Imbi said Bartlett had responded well after returning to the reserves for the Tigers clash.
"Jake provides us with another good option up forward as a tall and he has been good at training the last two weeks and deserves his spot back," he said.
"He played well against South Warrnambool but we as coaches felt we didn't help him as much as we could have and since then he has taken on some feedback and responded well."
For the third season the two clubs will be fighting for Community Bank Cups in senior football and netball.
As part of the match up the banks in Port Fairy and Cobden support a different cause each year.
Over the past two editions of the initiative they have granted $2000 to suicide awareness program Lets Talk and the St Patrick's Day Bushfire Relief Appeal.
This year the contribution will be to the Port Campbell Surf Lifesaving Club's appeal for the Powell families. Both clubs have strong ties to their closest surf lifesaving clubs at Port Campbell and Port Fairy.
The Seagulls won both cups in 2017, while last year they won just the football as Cobden saluted in the netball.
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