World Footy News

The Samurai IC14 Squad for AFL Japan was named today 3rd June 2014.

Twenty six Top League East players and two players currently playing in Australia have been named to play for the Samurai along with a Management and support staff of seven.

Senshu Powers have the largest contingent of players with seven, and Tokyo Bay Suns and R246 Lions are the next best represented clubs with six players each. The Komazawa Magpies have five representatives whilst brand new team Shonan Poseidons have provided 2 players.

Two players currently in Australia, Yuki Akita playing at North Gambier in country South Australia and Mitsugu Kazawa at West Footscray in Melbourne, Victoria have also been named in the squad.

The Japan based squad is as follows:

Senshu Powers: Yoshihara Sasaki, Takumi Sato, Kohei Sekine, Tomokazu Soda, Daichi Tanabe, Takuto Tsuneto and Yusuke Matsumoto.

Tokyo Bay Suns: Yosuke Kuno, Kunpei Komura, Katsuyoshi Shimizu, Junji Tanaka, Hiroyuki Toyama, and Masaya Nakamura.

R246 Lions: Yukihiro Ami, Michito Sasaki, Jun Sekiguchi, Kotaku Takasaki, Yuta Toyoshima and Yusei Hasegawa.

Komazawa Magpies: Hisayoshi Oura, Daiki Kai, Mitsugu Kazawa, Toshiki Matsuhashi and Sohei Yoshida.

Shonan Poseidons: Yohei Kichiraku and Kyosuke Sato.

Management and Support Staff are:

Brett Snowden – Coach

Hideki Miyasaka – Manager

Support Staff – Naoki Ishii – Powers, Ai Shichinohe – R246 Lions, Momoko Yasunga – Magpies, Jumpei Ito – Senshu and Tatsuya Tomioka – Magpies.

Several training sessions were held culminating in Samurai selection matches played on 26th May at the Edogawa Ground and a last chance training session on 31st May. Forty one players were split into three teams where each player was given a chance to play in at least two positions. Consideration was given to understanding game plans, response capability and suitability for each position.

Congratulations to all selected players and apologies for any mispelt names.

Courtesy of AFL Japan