Despite the success of last year's 150th anniversary game between Victoria and the Dream Team, representative football in the AFL appears to be dead and buried. But at grassroots level, the concept is alive and well. Today at the Junction Oval in St Kilda, the best players from the major country leagues will showcase their skills against a team drawn from the top two grades of Melbourne's amateur competition.
Given it is just five or six weeks until local finals begin, you would think both organisations must have been hard-pressed to find enough young men to take part. But in contrast to a lack of support for state-of-origin football among some AFL players, Victoria's local footy guns have embraced the chance to step up in class.
"It's an honour to get picked," says Victorian Country Football League captain Jarrod Edwards, a midfielder from Redan, who has won the past three Ballarat league best-and-fairest awards. "The standard goes up two or three notches, I reckon. It probably goes up one notch when you play inter-league, but this is a huge step. The skill level is unreal.
"You play footy to get the best out of yourself. I got injured at inter-league training a few years ago, but that's how it goes. That doesn't make me not want to play in these games."
Hawthorn champion Peter Knights has taken over as VCFL coach from Terry Daniher. The Essendon legend guided the team into the grand final of the biennial Australian Country Football Championships at Shepparton last year, although it was surprisingly beaten by the ACT.
"While there are only six players left from that side, we all want to make up for it," Edwards says. "We should've won it. We were flying until it started raining and we didn't handle the wet at all. We don't play enough wet-weather footy these days."
Knights, who grew up in the tiny Gippsland town of Longwarry, has spent much time working with junior players across regional Victoria. When offered the senior role back in February, he enthusiastically grabbed the opportunity.
Both teams contain a few names already familiar to footy fans around the state. The VCFL vice-captain is former St Kilda and North Melbourne wingman Joe McLaren, who these days coaches his home club, Koroit.
The 31-year-old will run out alongside Wangaratta premiership midfielder Jesse Smith, who had a brief stint at Carlton.
Edwards, however, is one of the lesser-known yet highly decorated bush boys. Vice-captain Adam Hunter from Dromana on the Mornington Peninsula, and Paul Newman, who has helped power Kyabram's charge up the Goulburn Valley ladder this season, are among the many others in that category.
"We wanted to go with players that had a passion for representative footy and had been showing some really good inter-league form," says Knights. "In the end, because it's a game featuring the best in the country versus the best in the metro area, it really didn't need a hard sell."
The youngest VCFL team member is Eaglehawk's Brodie Filo, the 19-year-old son of legendary local footballer Derrick Filo. Brodie and his father, who is 41, played alongside each other when the Hawks narrowly defeated Golden Square to win last year's Bendigo league premiership.
By electing to take part in this afternoon's game, Brodie missed yesterday's crucial clash between fifth-placed Eaglehawk and fourth-placed Kangaroo Flat.
"For a lot of these boys, especially the ones whose teams are not going so well, it's like their grand final," Knights says. "To be acknowledged as one of the best players in country Victoria in 2009 is a fair honour."
The VAFA combination boasts its own ex-AFL player, with Brett Voss (now with Old Haileybury) captaining the side.
Unfortunately, a hamstring injury has forced ex-Bulldog Matthew Robbins (Ormond) to withdraw, while a knee problem will also keep ex-Hawk Matthew Ball (Old Xaverians) on the sidelines.
"It's a hard time of the year, given the grind of the winter," admits VAFA coach Dean Anderson. "We've had quite a few injuries to some highly credentialled players in the past months, which hasn't worked in our favour, but the depth of our competition helps us out."
Really, the game seeks to answer one key question. Is grassroots footy stronger in the bush or the big smoke?
Since the Brian Molony Cup was instituted in 1993, the rural lads have held the edge. Going into today's game, the head-to-head record sits at 7-4 in their favour, although last time the teams met, the margin was a single point. "Our footy is more about putting your head over the ball," says Edwards. "There's a lot more contests. We want to show we play a tougher brand of footy."
Anderson acknowledges the contest will be a clash of styles. "It's fair to say the country side will have the edge in power and strength," says the former Hawthorn and St Kilda forward. "Amateur footy's probably getting quicker each year and in A-grade they're mostly hard-running sides.
"But we're a really in-form squad and while we might not have as many big names as people expect, we've got a really spirited and committed side."
The VCFL completed its preparations in Melbourne on Wednesday, when some players drove for hours to be part of the session.
"I've found it astonishing to see the amount of commitment and sacrifice that these guys are prepared to make," revealed Knights. "They've been coming from Echuca, Albury, Warrnambool, even Sunraysia. Hopefully, they'll really get some benefit out of it."
Knights has impressed on his men the importance of representing the bush with pride.
"Peter's been great," Edwards says. "He's so organised and he's really passionate about country footy. You meet a lot of great people being involved in these things."
For any AFL fans craving an old-fashioned afternoon at the footy, a spot on the terraces at the Junction Oval today might be just the tonic.
"We've got a set-up in place and some guidelines for how we want the team to play," says Edwards.
"But we also want to give the crowd a bit of flair and use our initiative to take the game on. It should be great to watch because we'll be putting on a show."
Article first appeared The Sunday Age,
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