Predators' trophy hunt

Green Island's Lili Clouston-Cain (13) darts past Breyton Smith (13) of Roslyn Wakari during...
Green Island's Lili Clouston-Cain (13) darts past Breyton Smith (13) of Roslyn Wakari during their match at Sunnyvale on Saturday. Photo by Gerard O'Brien.
Predators by name, predators by nature.

A Green Island junior team is having a whale of a season and is churning out a line of talented youngsters.

The GI Predators have torn up the FootballSouth 13th grade (division one) competition with a record of 11 wins and two draws from 13 games.

On 35 points, they are four clear of second-placed Melchester United in the grade.

The Predators are eyeing an unbeaten season - and at any level of sport, that is some achievement.

Coach Peter Cromb said most of the squad had played together for a while.

Significantly, the Predators added three girls to the squad this year, and they regularly field four on a Saturday.

''Generally, girls play two grades down,'' Cromb said.

''But three of our girls are 13th grade age, and one is actually 12th grade age.''

The female stars of the team are Abby Vinicombe, Tahlia Roome, Lili Clouston-Cain and Bianca Park - and they give as good as they get.

''A couple of them are into martial arts as well, so you don't mess with them.''

All four girls have been selected for extended Otago squads, and all four have been on the scoresheet this season.

Abby, who has also been picked for a National Training Centre squad, has six goals of her own.

The team's leading scorer is En Watanabe, with 17 goals.

The Predators moved from nine-a-side football to 11-a-side this season.

''They're a fantastic bunch of kids, a really good team,'' Cromb said.

Four of the boys in the Predators have made Otago squads, and two earned NTC selection.

Green Island has more than 20 junior teams and hopes to win three or four of the FootballSouth junior grades.

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