By Nick Creely
There will be an exciting mixture of both youth and experience when the SEFNL Interleague squad clashes with AFL Yarra Ranges on 19 May.
The league announced its initial 55-man squad for the AFL Victoria Community Championships clash at Holm Park in Beaconsfield, which will see the two leagues battle it out for bragging rights.
Talks are ramping up between the two leagues to come together for divisional football as of 2019, adding a further intriguing layer to a match that will pit some serious names up against each other.
In the 2017 Championships, the South East FNL went down fighting to a Jonathon Brown coached Hampden FNL by 18 points at Casey Fields, while the Yarra Ranges impressed with a dominant 60 point drubbing of Gippsland League, at Woori Yallock.
Interleague coach Rhys Nisbet – Berwick’s premiership coach in 2015 – told AFL South East Media that bragging rights were at the forefront of his mind as he looks to build up the squad for the massive clash.
“It’s definitely something I’ve thought about and something I’ll be using in the lead up to the game,” Nisbet said.
“A lot of hard work has gone into creating a special feeling at interleague in the past and it’s definitely something we want to keep building on.
”The pressure is on because bragging rights have probably never been bigger for whoever wins this time around.”
In what looks to be an exciting squad, which will make it extremely tough for the coaching staff comprising of Todd Devine, Robbie Taylor, Darren Dwyer, Stuart Batten, Damien Whitnell and Nisbet to trim the squad down, there are big names all over.
Championship stalwarts in the likes of Cranbourne legend Marc Holt, Michael Collins and of course superstars such as Madi Andrews, Scott Meyer and Nick Scanlon have all been named in the squad, but it’s some of the younger members that have turned heads so far in 2018.
Doveton’s Mitch Cotter and Narre Warren’s Jesse Davies are players that have had electric starts after graduating from TAC Cup level, while Officer’s brilliant early season form sees Matthew Clarke and Jesse Longmuir join a forward set up featuring Holt, Seagull Andrew Dean and Scanlon.
“We’ve selected quite a few young players in the squad, they all won’t play, but they’re the sort of players we hope will provide an x-factor and inject a real level of excitement,” Nisbet said.
The squad will train on Wednesday 2 and 9 May, before finishing up their preparations with a session on Tuesday 15 and Thursday 17 May.
SEFNL Senior Interleague Squad
Beaconsfield: Jake Bowd, Sean Dwyer (VFL), Damien Johnson, Daniel Johnson, Scott Meyer, Lachie Modica, Bailey Morrish (VFL), Corey Walker, James Munro (VFL).
Berwick: Madi Andrews, Will Arthurson, Tom Brennan, Tim Gunn, Lucas Jellyman-Turner, Andrew Morozoff, Michael Riseley, Bryce Rutherford, Luke Sheppard, Ash Smith.
Cranbourne: Dillan Bass, Luke Bee-Hugo, Michael Boland, Kirk Dickson, Marc Holt, Ryan Jones, Shaun Marusic, Brandon Osborne, Zak Roscoe, Anthony Vella (VFL).
Doveton: Mitch Cotter, Riley D’Arcy (VFL), Jake Dermott, Russ Gabriel, Matthew Stapleton.
Narre Warren: Trent Cody, Michael Collins, Jesse Davies (VFL), Tom Miller, Jake Richardson, Brad Scalzo, Nick Scanlon, Trent Shinners, Josh Tonna.
Officer: Matthew Clarke, Stephen Hawkins, Stephen Heppel, Jake Ingaliso, Jesse Longmuir.
Pakenham: Jo Baker-Thomas, Stephen Morey, Jeconiah (JJ) Peni, Josh Tynan (VFL).
Tooradin-Dalmore: Andrew Dean, Nick Lang, Luke McKenna.
