Weekly Times | BIRCHIP-WATCHEM may have won its first game of the North Central league season, but where it ranks in the year ahead is no clearer for playing coach Tom Carland.
The Bulls were the first team to test out Sea Lake-Nandaly, which has joined the league following the wind up last year of the Mallee league, which the Tigers left as two-time reigning premiers.
Birchip-Watchem trailed most of the match on Saturday, but hit the front four minutes into the fourth quarter and won by 11 points, 10.11 (71) to 9.6 (60).
“We don’t know where they stand,” Carland said.
“They’ve come off two flags in a different league, but how they’re going to fit into this style with these grounds they wouldn’t know themselves where they’re going to sit.
“If we had played Donald or Wycheproof that are looking quite good this year, or Charlton, we might have been able to get a bit of a read on it, but it’s too much of an unknown to really say where we’re going.”
A large number of Bulls players are travelling up from Melbourne and Carland’s father drives the bus transporting them.
He said there were 12 players in the side on Saturday who did not play last year so the side needed more time to get to know each other.
The new players included Jack Wilson, who transferred from the Warrack Eagles and kicked four goals on Saturday, and Heathcote District league representative Lochlan Sirett, who the Bulls named best-on-ground.