AFTER five years in the wilderness, interleague footy will be back when the best players from the Central Murray and Golden Rivers leagues cross the white line in Mildura this Saturday.
As local football has steadily returned to normal in the years following the COVID outbreak, interleague has been suspiciously absent.
The Central Murray last took to the field in 2019, when the Two Blues secured a nine-point win over the Gippsland League at Cohuna.
The coach that afternoon was Marcus Demaria, who returns to the post to lead a combined squad of the best available players from the Central Murray and Golden Rivers.
It will be a proud moment for Demaria, the veteran coach looking forward to renewing a recent rivalry with Sunraysia.
“I see interleague footy as a bit of unfinished business, I suppose,” Demaria told The Guardian this week.
“It’s something that I want to be involved with and help promote and take further within our region.
“Unfortunately, COVID kind of put an end to all that, but I always said that when the opportunity presents, I’d love to get it off the ground again, I want to be an advocate for interleague footy similar to what (coach) Donny Falvo’s doing for Sunraysia.
“It’s just a different experience, bringing your better players from within the league together and giving them the opportunity to represent your region, your league and your community, and front up against another team doing the same.
“Our region has a proud history when it comes to interleague footy, I’d like to think that means a lot to the local boys, and we’re going to go over there to give it our best shot.
“We’ve built a bit of a rivalry up against Sunraysia over the years, with them being a neighbouring league, and hopefully it’s something that continues on for many years to come.”
The last time the two leagues faced off against each other was back in 2018, when the Central Murray recorded a 41-point win over Sunraysia at the Swan Hill Recreation Reserve.
That game and the subsequent win over Gippsland a year later gave the Central Murray their fourth straight win in the format, continuing a proud history that includes the former Mid-Murray Football Leagues Division 1 interleague grand final appearances in 1994 and 1995 and a Division 2 title in 1992.
Two players who were involved in those teams were Balranald’s Gavin Lloyd and Woorinen’s Paul Walsh.
Now, their sons Drew and Joel are set to make their senior interleague debuts for the Central Rivers.
“There are a few guys whose fathers played interleague back in the old Mid-Murray days and I guess for those boys, it’s a good opportunity to follow in their footsteps and represent the league as well,” Demaria said.
“I remember back in 1994 sitting at home with Channel 10 on the TV and watching the Mid-Murray team playing in the final against Goulburn Valley, who I think were coached by Mick Gayfer, and we were watching guys like Chris Wall, Richard Dow, Glenn Fitzpatrick, Dean Bennett, Vince Foott, champions of our region running around.
“That’s my memory of interleague and that’s why I can’t wait to bring it back.
“Thinking back to those days when it was an honour to represent your league and all the best players wanted to play, they all wanted to put their hand up.”
The Central Rivers squad will once again be stacked full of talent, with Roy George, Brandyn Grenfell, Sean Hunter, Harry Allen, Jaxon Neagle and Arnold Kirby, among many others, all confirmed starters.
While the junior squads have a mix of Central Murray and Golden Rivers talent, the senior side will be made up of mostly Central Murray players, with Ultima’s Darcy Farrell set to be the sole representative from the GRFNL.
“We’ve had plenty of interest, we had an initial squad of 40 names based off those who showed interest,” Demaria said.
“Since then we’ve had a few guys pull out with injuries and the like, but we’re pretty happy with the squad we’ve assembled.
“It’s exciting to see us pull a team of this quality together and see what they’re capable of doing.
“(Sunraysia) have some very handy footballers and quite a few ex-AFL players within their squad, while we have a fairly young side, but it will be a good opportunity for our boys to play against some high-quality footballers and the best players out of a similar major league.”
In terms of game style, Demaria was emphatic how he wanted to approach the match, especially with a forward line that possesses marking targets such as Brandyn Grenfell, Jayden Magro, Mitch Christensen and Drew Lloyd.
“We want to play the modern way, we’ve had four training sessions together and the main core have been to every session,” Demaria said.
“We’ll try to implement a game plan, but in this type of match you just want the guys to go out there and play and showcase their own skills, and play the way they want to play.
“What the opposition do, I’m not sure, but in these sorts of matches, coaches don’t tend to put too much time into the defensive aspect of the game.
“We have a few defensive structures that we’ll put in place and hopefully that will be the difference between the two teams, but what we’ve coached is to play the corridor whenever we can and go forward with fast ball movement.
“I’m excited to see how the players go about it and how it’s implemented.”
