Right: Doveton’s Ryan Hendy could force his way into the MPNFL Sharks side to play the Hampden FL at Berwick on Sunday, given his recent good form.By Brad Kingsbury
BERWICK will host the Pool B interleague clash between the Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League Sharks and the Hampden League this Sunday with promotion to the top VCFL division on the line.
The winner of the one-off match, starting at 1pm, will replace the West Gippsland Latrobe League in Pool A of the annual country championships, while the loser will slip back to Pool C, adding incentive to the game.
The initial squad of 55 has been reduced to 30 for tonight’s final training run, with coach Jon Gahan to announce the 22-man team at a dinner afterwards.
Beaconsfield trio Chris Kelf, Robbie Taylor and Daniel Mislicki together with Tooradin on-baller Beau Miller, Doveton defender Brad Downe and former St Kilda now Narre Warren defender Aussie Jones have been omitted due to injury, however the Sharks are still expected to field a strong side.
Players expected to lead the charge to the top grade include Pakenham’s Michael Holland and Jared Goldsack, together with Narre Warren stars Ricky Clark and Michael Collins and Tooradin play-maker Tom Hallinan.
Lions captain Justin Sutherland is likely to share the ruck duties with Mt Eliza’s Chris Edgar, while Doveton goalsneak Ryan Hendy may be the wildcard as a key in attack for the Sharks.
Gahan said the change back from the round-robin format over two days to the conventional single game would alter the way he set the side up.
However it had not affected the approach, which is to win at the best level and get back into the top division.
“Football is all about outcomes. But this is a cultural thing and there is no way the biggest country football league in the state should play in the third division of the VCFL championships, so we will be going all out to make sure that is not the case this weekend,” he said.
David Cassidy will coach the Hampden interleague side and his initial squad has also been depleted by injuries.
Among the talent likely to take the field for the visitors are Ben Harris, Steven Sinnott, James Gellie (Camperdown) Stephen Dickenson, Brett Taylor (Cobden), Joe McLaren, Chris McLaren, Mark Bowman (Koroit), Brad McCosh, (Port Fairy), Robbie Gregg, Danny Finn (South Warrnambool) and Matthew Irving, Pat Heffernan and Matthew Schrama, (Terang-Mortlake).
Cassidy said he was confident of a good showing, despite the unavailability of key players.
An under-18 interleague curtain-raiser will start at 10.50am, while 17-and-under and senior representative netball sides from both leagues will also compete starting at 11.30am and 1pm respectively.
