Gold Coast Suns monitor teenage talent and under-15 All-Australian Havana Harris

The Gold Coast Suns are monitoring gifted teenager Havana Harris who has become an underage All-Australian after just two years in the game.

THE Gold Coast Suns are monitoring gifted teenager Havana Harris who has become an underage All-Australian after just two years in the game.

The 13-year-old Year 7 Varsity College student has become one of the most exciting football prospects on the Gold Coast after scaling enormous heights in a short period, culminating on her selection in the under-15 All-Australian side at the start of August despite being two years younger than some in the side.

The ruck-forward was named in the representative team after dominating at the recent national school championships in Tasmania.

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Harris’ success prompted the Suns to invite her to train with the under-16 academy members leading into nationals and with the club set to introduce an under-14 academy program in 2020, she is among the emerging talents already on their radar.

Mother Samantha Hughes said the All-Australian status was an amazing and unexpected achievement for her daughter who was only in her second season of footy at the Burleigh Bombers.

Varsity College student Havana Harris was named in the under-15 All-Australian girls team. Picture: Supplied.

“It came as a bit of a shock. She wasn’t expecting to get into the state team and then to get the All-Australian guernsey was huge,” Hughes said.

“This is her second year of footy. She plays for the Burleigh under-13 side but also fills in for the club’s under-15 team.

“She is fairly new to the Aussie rules scene, a lot of girls are because the sport is growing so much.

“It’s so much fun for them to play.”

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Harris, who won the 2018 best and fairest for the under-13 Gold Coast juniors under-13 competition, is currently the under-13 Little Athletics Australia national high jump champion and a proven performer in touch football and surf life saving beach events.

She made the under-12 South Coast team for football last year but the state championships clashed with the Queensland Athletics Championships and she chose to compete at the latter.

But she returned this season and represented Queensland at nationals where the 183cm talent played in the ruck and at full forward.

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“She is a really good sprinter and great jumper,” Samantha Hughes said.

“The ability to jump in footy really helps so the game suits her physical attributes but she loves the social connection of it, the girls and friendships she has made from footy.”

Harris may be a sprinter but Hughes made a name for herself in endurance running, winning the Gold Coast Marathon in 2000.

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