IT MAY be a rivalry that dates back through the decades, but Ballarat interleague coach Shane Skontra does not expect the rivalry with Bendigo to weigh too heavily on his players.
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It is only two years since Ballarat and Bendigo clashed on the interleague stage, but the two sides to hit Eastern Oval on Saturday will be almost unrecognisable to the ones fielded two years ago.
The sense of rivalry is as strong as ever.
Ballarat won in 2013, but in 2009 it was an undermanned Bendigo that proved too strong.
Only two players from this year’s match (Bendigo’s Brodie Filo and Clayton Anderson), played in both of those games.
Those two are also the only remaining players from the 2013 Bendigo side, while Ballarat has four players from that game – Grant Bell, Derick Micallef, Ryan Hobbs and Darren Leonard.
The fresh batch of faces reaffirms Skontra’s belief that to the vast majority of the players, the rivalry does not have a great impact come game day.
“The rivalries are probably more with the past players and past administrators,” he said.
“Our current group, they probably don’t embrace it as much, but it’s big for the town and hopefully we get a good crowd there, given that rivalry.”
The winner will advance to the 3v4 match next year, while the loser will drop back to 7v8.
BFL UNDER-18 SQUAD:
Billy Griffiths (Bacchus Marsh), Matt Inglis (Darley), Ben Hurley (North Ballarat City), Dylan Bishop (Bacchus Marsh), Pat Fitzgibbon (Redan), Robbie Burns (Sunbury), Tom Evans (Darley), Dean Muir (Sunbury), Connor Griffiths (Melton), Billy Watkins (East Point), Kyle Hayes (Redan), Steven Treweek (Sunbury), Lachlan Bramble (Sunbury), Cameron Jackson (East Point), Tanna Blackney-Noter (Lake Wendouree), Jordan Taylor (East Point), Liam Henderson (Melton), Jed Herrmann (North Ballarat City), Ted Hunt (North Ballarat City), Thomas Wakefield (East Point), Daniel Rioli (East Point), Jack McNabb (Sebastopol), Clay Bilney (East Point),m Jonathon Neville (Lake Wendouree), Lloyd Meek (North Ballarat City).
patrick.nolan@fairfaxmedia.com.au
