The Courier |
BALLARAT proved itself not as a team of champions on Saturday, but a champion team.
Fielding a team that many said was understrength, inexperienced and lacking genuine stars, Ballarat put any critics to the side to claim arguably its most important victory of the last five years.
If Ballarat had lost, it would have fallen back to seventh, a far cry short of its rank as the second-best team in 2011.
But a victory now sees it ranked fourth, set to compete in the second tier against Ovens and Murray Football League next year.
In a bold statement, coach Ben Jordan said the Ballarat Football League could beat any other league on its day.
Jordan heaped praise on his side after the match, not for outstanding individual performances (although there certainly were some), but for the way it worked together.
“If we can play the game on our terms we can beat anyone,” he said.
“People potentially underestimate the Ballarat league for the depth and the strength of good players that play in the league.
“It’s not a big money league, we don’t have superstars running around and we don’t have ex-AFL players. What we’ve got is we’ve got the town of Ballarat and five clubs outside of Ballarat that are strong football areas and have a strong football culture and we’ve got fantastic juniors.”
Jordan went on to praise the commitment his team had shown to training and preparation throughout the campaign.
“People always say ‘who have you got in your comp that have played 100 AFL games or that’s played in an AFL premiership?’ Well, I don’t know,” he said.
“What I know is that we’ve got a really good, strong core of footballers and if you get them together and playing for each other then this is the sort of result the league can have.”
Thirteen players made their interleague debut for Ballarat on Saturday, meaning it is unlikely Ballarat will field a younger side for years to come.
That can only work in the league’s favour.
And if Jordan can muster the same effort and desire out of the playing group as he did this year, there is no reason why Ballarat cannot find itself playing for the title as best country football league in Victoria again.
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