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geelongflWeekly Times | GEELONG coach Jeremy Dyer says the prospect of playing on an AFL-standard ground against a new opponent — one which attracts plenty of former AFL talent each year — has ­“livened things up” for this year’s interleague campaign.

Representative sides from the Geelong, Mornington Peninsula Nepean, Goulburn Valley, Ballarat and Ellinbank and District leagues will be pitted against metropolitan leagues on Saturday as part of a ­revamped interleague, the WorkSafe AFL Victoria Community Championships.

The Geelong league, which won its interleague fixture against Goulburn Valley last year to retain the No. 1 country league ranking, will host the Eastern league at Simonds ­Stadium. Eastern was ranked second to the Victorian Amateur Football Association after the Metro Championships last year, but the latter is not playing in this competition.

“It will gauge where the league’s at, really. We rate ourselves the best in the country so it will be interesting to see actually how we stack up against the metro sides,” Dyer said.

He said only eight players from Geelong’s team last year remained in contention for selection at the start of the week.

Colac skipper Kane Leersen dislocated his shoulder at the weekend, while Grovedale’s Ryan Abbott was called up for his first VFL game last weekend along with another interleague prospect, St Joseph’s Kieren Paliouras.

But a core group remained from last year, including two-time league best-and-fairest Daniel Lovick (St ­Joseph’s), former Port Adelaide player turned North Shore coach Jason Davenport and key forward Jordan ­Erskine (Grovedale), who will be joined by the likes of Bell Park brothers Jackson and Tim Sheringham.

Former St Kilda player and two-time North Ringwood premiership coach Brett Moyle coaches the Eastern league side.

Moyle, a league representative in 2009, said among his side would be former North Melbourne player Joel Perry (Vermont), league best-and-fairest winners Luke Williams (Knox) and Daniel King (South Croydon), and Balwyn stars Jeff Gobbels and Rennie Gilchrist. Former Melbourne player Matthew Bate (Norwood) is one of two playing assistant coaches.

“We’ve got a side we think is pretty flexible, we’ve got the ability to have a defensive midfield, I think we’ve got the flexibility in the back six to manage all different sorts,” Moyle said. “It’s just so hard to plan ­because we don't know who is going to be there ... we might have to think a little bit on our feet depending on who is playing well for Geelong.”

The results of these matches will determine league rankings for next year.

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