BALLARAT Football League coach Shane Skontra may have to wait until the morning of the match before settling his side for the crunch AFL Victoria Country Championships clash with Bendigo.
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Player availability, because of connections with the North Bal-larat Roosters, has been a sticky point in Ballarat’s preparations.
Skontra and his coaching team have trimmed the squad to 28, but will make final adjustments over the coming days in the lead-up to Saturday’s match.
“It’s the landscape of Ballarat footy at the moment. We are highly aligned to the VFL Roosters list and we need to probably wait until later in the week before we can nail down a final side,” Skontra said.
“We had a discussion as a coaching group and we are really pleased with the depth of our squad and the way they are gelling together.”
Following last year’s heavy loss to Goulburn Valley, the clash with Bendigo at Eastern Oval is a massive one for the BFL, which would slip to the 7v8 playoff match next year should it lose.
“There’s no doubt the clubs understand that it affects us as a whole league if we lose. It’s of big importance for us to win this week,” Skontra said.
“The nature of the ranking system means it really stings you if you lose so that’s why it’s really important we win.”
Captain Adam Sewell reiterated the importance of the encounter, saying his side needed to give a good showing to help the league continue to be a powerhouse in the state.
“The ranking systems, the way they are, if you lose there’s some fairly big impacts on that, going down a couple of spots and then it takes a number of years then to get back up to where you were,” he said.
“While it’s probably not on the forefront of some of the player’s minds in terms of that ranking system, it’s certainly not lost on the coaching group and the like.”
THE SQUAD
Chris Giampaolo (Redan), Jonothan Lanyon (East Point), Simon McCartin (North Ballarat City), Daniel Tung (East Point), Shane Page (Darley), Michael Powell (Sebastopol), Shaun Lyle (North Ballarat City), Daniel Kennedy (Ballarat), Liam Youl (Ballarat), Nathan Horbury (Redan), Derick Micallef (North Ballarat City), Steven Kennedy (Darley), Mitchell Gilbert (North Ballarat City), Callum Currie (Redan), Cameron Richardson (Bacchus Marsh), Adam Sewell (Ballarat), Jarod Bacon (Redan), Brad Murphy (Melton), Mitchell Phelps (Redan), Jarrod Edwards (Darley), Jackson Bolton (Bacchus Marsh), Grant Bell (Redan), Sam Hooper (North Ballarat City), Darren Leonard (Darley), Lucas Anderson (Lake Wendouree), Ryan Hobbs (North Ballarat City), Rowan Marshall (Sebastopol), Jackson Bowen (Lake Wendouree)
tim.oconnor@fairfaxmedia.com.au