MPNFL interleague preview

By Brad Kingsbury
MORNINGTON Peninsula Nepean Football League (MPNFL) Sharks interleague selectors have acknowledged the Casey Cardinia competition as the league’s new powerhouse, by loading the 2010 representative side to play this weekend with local talent.
Seven Casey Cardinia League clubs provided 10 of the final 23-man interleague squad – and only weekend injuries to Beaconsfield star Chris Kelf, Narre Warren midfielder Michael Collins and Pakenham full back Nathan Brown prevented that number from being higher.
There are eight representatives from the Peninsula League and five from the Nepean League.
The MPNFL will have a bye this weekend so the MPNFL Sharks can focus on playing their best football – and hopefully win their Worksafe VCFL Championship challenge against the Hampden League at Camperdown on Saturday.
The coaching panel of Paul Kennedy, Michael Holland and Steven Capp were forced to significantly change the make-up of last year’s triumphant side due to injuries, departures and form. However, the side which has been chosen has a good balance of speed, youth and experience.
Kennedy, the senior coach for the third year, said he relished interleague football and was looking forward to the challenge again – as were the players.
“It’s a different team to last year, but the emphasis will still be on attack,” he said.
“We want to play attractive football and put on a show for the crowd. It is the big stage for most of these players and every year the standard gets better.”
Kennedy added while it was disappointing several stars from 2009, including Ryan Hendy, Lee Boyle and Daniel Borninkhof were unavailable this year, their replacements were more than worthy of selection.
Former Collingwood and West Coast Eagles playmaker Andrew Williams returns after missing the 2009 campaign due to injury, while Justin Berry, Nick Scanlon, Matthew Freeman, Dale Robinson and David Collins will make their interleague debuts.
The under 18 curtain raiser starts at noon, with Narre Warren coach Mark Douglas in charge for the second year.