Forget Aussie Rules and rugby league, two local boys have turned their skills to gridiron and are now in the ACT Leagues Gridiron Championship grand final.
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Ian Lanham and Nic Everdell attend the University of Canberra and decided to sign up for this year’s 10-week round-robin season.
Their team, the University of Canberra (UC) Firebirds – who Ian just so happens to be captaining this year – has just undergone two weeks of gruelling finals.
The result has seen them come out as minor premiers and into the championship game.
This will be Ian’s fourth grand final with the team, but for Nic – he is about to make his gridiron debut.
The UC Firebirds will now fight to end a season of victory for the only once defeated Central Spears this Saturday at Greenway Oval in Canberra from 5pm.
“We’ve won eight matches and lost two this season – we’ve won six premierships in the past, including last year,” club president Cheryl Bollard said.
“The Central Spears are a new team and are predominately made up of Islanders so they’re big and strong,” she said.
“They’ve lost one match this season but that was against us in September in round three,” she added.
Bollard said the strong performances by our Young duo will see the boys getting quite a lot of game time this weekend.
The town in fact has a small history of Young boys playing in the championships while attending university in Canberra.
Four boys from the area have played with the UC Firebirds in previous years, including Nic’s older brother James Everdell (who played for four years) and Ryan Kay.
Ian was named Man of the Match last season.
Nic’s father, Robert Everdell of Young said his son is “pretty calm” about his first-time experience.
“Nic’s the blocker so he stops the 100 to 120 kilogram quarter backs in the game – he enjoys it,” Robert said.
But this weekend is sure to test Nic as Robert said he’s not as big as his son James and the Central Spears are big competitors.
“They’re big fellas and full of muscle!” Robert laughed.