OUR early taste of what the AFL has in store for Ballarat next year is celebration for the state’s whole west to be proud about – more so than our first two years hosting premiership season games.
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Warrnambool, Horsham and Ballarat football will take centre stage – should our exports be match fit – with two different AFL rivals getting a chance to experience Western Bulldogs’ game on Mars.
This reinforces the far-reaching importance of AFL matches in Ballarat for western Victoria. Most notably, in acknowledging our elite players’ grassroots clubs and development program, Greater Western Victoria Rebels.
The AFL fixture dropped on Thursday but the Bulldogs were able to let the Mars Stadium schedule out early, two days before fans got to digest the rest of the season fixture.
Improved timing of games aside, for Ballarat the big question is in homecomings – which of our players might we get to see return to Mars, but not as they knew it.
Brisbane Lions duo Hugh McCluggae (South Warrnambool) and Jarrod Berry (Horsham Saints) are in the mix with Crouch brothers Brad and Matt (Beaufort).
This is where Matt, now one of the game’s most prolific ball winners, spent a year as a sports trainee with the Rebels before he was drafted. But the arena, with its boutique grandstands and modified goal alignment, has significantly changed.
The Lions are up first at Mars on May 11 in what will be the region’s first chance to see high-ranking 2016 draftees McCluggage (pick three) and Berry (pick 17) up close in AFL action.
Both have retained strong ties to their hometowns. Berry returned home to Horsham early last month and, with his brothers and a couple of mates, raised almost $35,000 by shaving their heads for Breast Cancer Network Australia. They did so in a touching tribute, backed by the Lions, to the Berry’s mum who died of breast cancer five years ago.
For the Crouch brothers, Mars Stadium already has a touch of Crows’ luck about the place. Their home club Beaufort made a drought-breaking premiership win last season for the club’s first Central Highlands Football League senior flag.
A year earlier, while on the way to the AFL grand final, Adelaide Crows captain Taylor Walker sent the Beaufort Crows an inspirational video message ahead of the Central Highlands grand final. Beaufort fell short, but returned this season to ensure Mars is Crows territory.
Only when it comes to AFL, Ballarat is a Bulldog town and Mars is a kennel. A round 23 fixture, potentially with finals on the line, could prove a slightly conflicting blockbuster for the region.
A change-up in visiting rivals to Ballarat is a great way to really watch more of the game’s elite in our backyard playing for points.
Matches on the menu for next season carry that extra spark of Ballarat interest. This is valuable to note weeks out from the AFL draft for Rebels hopefuls across the state’s west who now can only wait to learn if they make a list.
Players like McCluggage, Berry and the Crouch brothers were just like them, nervously awaiting their fate, only a couple of years ago. Now they get to show where this has led them.
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