A year of planning by the Western Region Football League will come to a head this Saturday when it takes on the Eastern Football League in the AFL Victoria metropolitan interleague championships.
The potential rewards couldn’t be higher, with the WRFL and EFL going into the championships ranked third and fourth respectively on the metropolitan interleague rankings.
The winner will take second place in the rankings and earn a shot next year at the winner of this year’s first and second-placed battle between the VAFA and NFL.
The stakes are also high for the loser. That league will drop to number five on the rankings and be at least two years away from challenging for top spot again.
After leading the WRFL to a win in last year’s interleague campaign against the Southern Football League, Brett Jacobs has again been entrusted with the role as senior coach.
He says his side will be sticking to the strategy that proved successful last year.
“We want to keep that pretty simple for them; we don’t want to over-complicate things.”
“All these guys are practising stuff at club level and they probably have a lot of information going through their heads. We don’t want to contribute to that. We just want to make it an easy process to follow.”
Jacobs and his fellow coaches – Albion’s Aaron Tymms, Port Melbourne’s Brad Julier and Deer Park’s James Condos – have been working with an ultra-strong list.
While the final side is yet to be named, the latest squad reads like a who’s who of WRFL talent. League best-and-fairest winner Matthew Dean leads a line-up that also includes former Western Bulldogs AFL player Wayde Skipper, former Carlton rookie and current Spotswood player Murray Boyd and former Werribee VFL player Jack Purton-Smith, who these days runs out for Deer Park.
Jacobs said it was great to see so much enthusiasm from players wanting to be a part of the program.
The EFL is yet to name its final side for the weekend’s match but it, too, has a strong squad that includes former Collingwood VFL player Kris Pendlebury and nine players from last year’s premiers, Norwood.
Jacobs is expecting an extremely tough hit- out.
“They are a very strong league and the talent pool runs very deep.”
Prior to the WRFL-EFL blockbuster, the EDFL will take on the SFL in a battle between the fifth- and sixth-ranked leagues.
The main fixture, between the VAFA and NFL, is the day’s last match and will start at 3.25pm.
