Two of the Bellarine’s highest-profile coaches have raised the prospect of the return of interleague football, and they’ve set their sights on a marquee match-up.
Premiership mentors Heath Jamieson and Dom Gleeson have been discussing the revival of representative football, with a match-up against the GFNL on their agenda, following the GDFNL’s decision to play an under-25 match against Colac and District in June.
The Sharks last fielded a team in 2019 in a keenly anticipated match-up with the Raiders, which the Mark Hildebrandt-coached team won comfortably by 39 points at Queens Park.
“I think our competition’s in a really good place at the moment,” Jamieson said.
“It’s got some really good players in it, and it’s strong
“I don’t for one think that there’s not a gap between GFL and BFL, but I think if you look at the better players in the Bellarine, I think they could compete with the better players in the GFL.”
Gleeson says he’s spoken with Jamieson and is keen to be involved.
“Heath reached out and I said I’ll support him, and if he needs a water boy or a runner, I’ll put my hand up for sure,” Gleeson said.
“I’d really like to see it. I’m not naive to think that the Bellarine are at GFL level, but I certainly think you know our best – if they’re willing to put their hand up and represent us – would go very well against them.
“It would be a great showcase. Let’s be honest, most of our better Bellarine players are probably ex-GFL players anyway.”
However, Gleeson also sees the other side of the risks involved
“I also want to manage our injury list as well,” he said.
“It’s a similar conversation at AFL level, isn’t it?
“We all love watching the Big V (Victoria) run around, but then when it’s our player that represents us on the weekend, we worry about them.”
“I’d certainly love to see it. I’d love to be a part of it, too.”
Jamieson is confident interleague would be popular with players starved of finals action.
“You talk about the strength of our competition; there are 10 teams that are going to go hell for leather,” he said.
“And right now, if you had to make a top five, you wouldn’t be able to do that.
“So, unfortunately, with how strong our competition is, only five teams are able to play finals.
“The next best thing for those five teams that miss out is interleague for their players to be able to play at a higher level.
“Finals go up a notch, so that becomes a higher level.
“But if you can’t play that, there needs to be another avenue, and I think that’s interleague.”
X: @krockfootball
