North Queensland captain Kane Richter says this Sunday's game in Brisbane is the perfect opportunity to prove the region deserves a team in the NEAFL.
The North Cairns stalwart was humbled to get the call on the weekend from Townsville's NQ coach Barry Gibson to tell him he would lead the side against South Queensland this weekend.
But there are larger motivations than just intrastate bragging rights after North Queensland was not added to the NEAFL, as many expected it would be this season.
The region is still tipped to be included when the AFL's second tier competiton next expands, with Richter saying his team had the perfect opportunity to push their case on the weekend.
"It's an absolute honour to captain a side with such quality players in it and it's an opportunity for us to prove, against the best from down south, that we could be competitive at a NEAFL level," the 30-year-old said.
"It will be a good opportunity for the heirachy to see our competitiveness and our attitude to this great game."
Richter is one of 18 Cairns based players in the 23-man squad named yesterday, with Michael Paul (Lions) and Matt walsh (Saints) named co-captains along with Mackay's Michael Fisher.
Nick Braybon (Saints) and John Tootell (Souths) will join the coaching panel as assistants.
Red-hot William English has made the side despite not being named in the initial 45-man squad, one of five from the top-of-the-table South Cairns outfit.
South Queensland will be made up of players from the QFA, QAFA, Darling Downs and Wide Bay Leagues.
"It's very pleasing that we have a number of players that are North Queensland born and bred, which speaks volumes of the efforts by many in developing local NQ talent," Gibson said.
"The match represnts the great unknown in terms of the opposition, so we have chosen a group that we believe is incredibly versatile and able to deal with whatever may eventuate throughout the course of the game."
Work committments have limited Richter's representative involvement in recent years, although he has served as Cairns assistant coach and was in the leadership group of the new defunct VFL club Tasmanian Devils before he moved home to Cairns.
"I'll be able to lean on Walshy after he has done a good job leading the boys in the last few years, and Barry has done a mountain of work to get his head around how we play," Richter said.
"It's just great for the region to showcase its best players and then for them to go back to their clubs imnproved players."
***The NQ v SQ game is part fo the triple-header at the new Moreton Bay Regional Sports Complex that includes the QAFL v VAFA and Women's All Star game.***
Last Modified on 06/11/2014 14:37