However, Middleton has been criticised for the way he has gone about selecting a side to take on the Horsham District boys on Saturday.

Middleton this year abandoned the usual method of using training runs to trim an initial squad. Instead, he has contacted players he wanted to be part of the 23-man team from the outset and, despite a shake-up due to injury, feels this process has helped lure some of the stars of the competition.

“I don’t think you are going to keep everybody happy,” Middleton said.

“There are some good players that have missed out, there’s no doubt about that, but I’m really happy with the squad and the way we’ve gone about it.

“The reasoning behind it is I wanted to get those bigger-name players involved and to do that you can’t really afford to take up too much of their personal time.”

Middleton said the new approach was designed to strip the interleague process back to only a couple of important training sessions.

He said by not having a club coaching role this year, he was able to get around to games and see players in the opening rounds of the season.

“I can’t do a huge amount in four or five training sessions anyway, so the side I’m picking is really based on form and positional structure for the side,” he said.

“I’m not going to improve their fitness, I’m not going to improve their ability in that period of time, so really it’s just about picking a balanced side that is playing good footy at the current time. 

“And I think I’ve done that.”

The Central Highlands team remains unchanged from the one that was named on Thursday night and will take on Horsham District in a 21v22 showdown at Horsham City Oval from noon.

The game is part of a double-header, with the Wimmera and Bellarine competitions doing battle after the match.

Central Highlands will also field a junior team against the Horsham District league, with that game kicking off at 10am.