By Nick Creely
No matter which way Saturday’s Interleague result goes, it’s another important day for the growth of AFL Outer East.
The new competition – a merger between Yarra Ranges and South East Football Netball League (SEFNL) – will play together as one, wearing the same jumper with pride when they stride to their positions at QEO Oval in Bendigo.
Outer East will take on the might of the Bendigo Football Netball League at 2.15pm with what looms as a monster senior clash in the AFL Victoria Community Championships, with the Under 18s at 12.00pm also set to put on a show.
But, it was only a year ago that the SEFNL and Yarra Ranges faced off on this very same fixture, with the south-east side, coached by Rhys Nisbet, getting the chocolates in a cracking contest over four-quarters.
At that stage of the year, with work going on behind the scenes to bring the leagues together, it was a vitally important day for all involved in local footy. Saturday will be no different.
With plenty of water left under the bridge as to exactly how the side will look with some recent injury troubles for the Outer East causing some headaches – as well as some stars opting for a rest – coach Nick Rutley told the Gazette that depth is no issue for his squad as they prepare to hit the road this weekend.
“The enthusiasm is great, and the attitude towards interleague has been really good – you’ve got a range of talented players that don’t want to be playing interleague, and that’s absolutely fine, they’ll get a week off, and others have been hit by injury and that’s unfortunate,” he said.
“We’re really lucky as a league that Outer East is two parts, SEFNL and Yarra Valley.
“The depth of talent is really good. We look at the board, and we go ‘there’s probably a dozen more A-graders that you could slot in who won’t play’, but the reality is, you just go to the next player, who’s not equally as talented, but still talented and on a VFL-list who wants to play.
“The 24 still shapes up to be a really good squad – we’re still going to be in the laps of the god a little bit until Thursday as to what the 24 looks like, but I’m confident we’re going to take a really good list up there, and I think we’ll do well up there.”
The Outer East initially named a four-man leadership group consisting of Berwick star Madi Andrews, Cranbourne defender Brandon Osborne, Olinda Ferny Creek’s Marcus Hottes and Woori Yallock’s Jordan Williams, but have been cruelled by injury over the weekend to both Andrews and Williams, who will not take part.
“Madi is out with injury, and that does make it a little bit difficult, but the reality is we chose four but I think we’ll go to Bendigo with just the two, so hopefully they don’t get stung by a hornets nest between now and then,” Rutley said with a chuckle.
“We’re still blessed with leadership, and having four was a great little initiative, but the injuries, it’s just worked out that we’ll have two, which is more than enough anyway.
“We’ve got a representation from both sides, the Yarra Valley and SEFNL, and they’re highly regarded people – Marcus Hottes is an exceptional bloke, and all the people I’ve spoken to about Brandon say that too.”
While Rutley said that the final squad is still a ways off from being finalised ahead of Thursday’s jumper presentation at Beaconsfield, he said that there will still be plenty of Yarra Valley representation on-field.
“Anywhere between six and 10 (Yarra Valley players will play) – it depends on what happens between now and Thursday,” he said.
“We don’t bat as deep in terms of the SEFNL clubs with our talent out here, and had they all been available, it could have been a 50-50 split, but injury and unavailability means it won’t go that way.”
With the unique dimensions of QEO set to test the Outer East, Rutley warned that his squad has what it takes to play a brand of football that will stack up.
“There’s a lot of us that have had experience at QEO, whether it’s playing or coaching there, I’ve done both – our assistant coaches, guys that have played VFL or TAC Cup footy have played there,” he said.
“It’s a different footy ground, it’s very narrow – it’s not your normal sized ground in terms of shape, so we’ll be looking to do what I assume Bendigo will do, and that’s play fast footy, and defensively we’ve got a good balance of inside and outside players, so we’ve got a good range of players.
“We’ll look to play fast, we won’t have a gorilla type forward – we’ll be more ground ball with the likes of (Ryan) Jones, (Harry) Money, (Jake) Roe-Duggan, Kirk Dickson, Lachie Taylor, Matty Clarke, the more hybrid type players.
“On the day and when you’re coaching, and in the moment you need to make some moves, or there’s an injury, you’ve got room to move with those types of players.”
Rutley also heaped praise on his band of assistant coaches, Matt Adolf, Michael McGrath, Steve O’Brien and Chris Goodlett, saying they’ve done tremendous work in getting the squad into a great position for a positive result.
“Those guys have been absolutely brilliant,” he said.
“They’ve been so supportive, and have brought different dynamics to coaching and ideas.”
