South-west footballers impress for GWV Rebels at V/Line Cup carnival

That's the assessment from Brett Taylor - one of Greater Western Victoria Rebels' boys team assistant coaches for the V/Line Cup.

Taylor said the Rebels, who fielded teams in divisions one and two, embraced the chance to play against the state's most promising under 15 players at the two-day tournament in Shepparton. The Rebels also featured in the girls' competition.

"All the kids performed quite well and everyone showed there was a reason why there were there," he said.

"I am assuming everyone would've went home and thought 'I still have some work to do' but they showed good signs as well."

Taylor said South Warrnambool's Hamish Alexander, Cobden's Archie Taylor and Koroit's Jett Grayland impressed for the division one side which split its matches against North East Border and South East.

"He's hard at it, Hamish. He gets in and gets the ball and puts his body on the line," he said.

"Archie has very good endurance and pace and his kicking is quite good; he stepped up to the next level.

"Jett uses his pace quite well too and reads the play."

Division two, which played the same regions, won both of its matches.

Taylor, who said the players relished the chance to hear from Princetown export and North Melbourne footballer Ben Cunnington, said Cobden's Darcy Hutchins was a standout while Koroit's Talor Byrne and Bomber Kurtis Baker hit the scoreboard.

Warrnambool duo Riley Holloway and Hugo Artz shone too. "Everyone did something - there was a quarter or a half where they'd do quite well," he said.

The girls' team lost it two games with South Warrnambool's Maggie Johnstone best on ground in game one.

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