LAST time Dale Smith coached at interleague level his Hume League team put Tallangatta to the sword.
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Now the conquered have pinned their hopes on the conqueror, with Smith to lead Tallangatta against Riverina at Wagga.
“We know the Riverina league is going to be a hard side to play against,” he said yesterday.
“They have a good squad and play a good level of football.
“And coming from NSW to play a Victoria-based league, I’m sure they’ll be keen to do well.”
Smith said he expected Riverina to put out a tall and athletic team.
“We can only control what we can control — our side,” he said.
“Whatever they throw against us we have to combat and back our boys in to win enough of the footy.
“I’m happy the 24 we’ve got are keen to play representative footy for the Tallangatta league. That’s what we want — we want guys who want to play football.”
Smith said Dederang-Mount Beauty defender Andrew Cardwell would get the big job of quelling Riverina’s star recruit James Lawton, who has returned from a stint in South Australia.
At the other end of the ground, Kiewa-Sandy Creek’s Guy Telford (33 goals) and Yackandandah’s Trent Castles (32) are one and two in the league goalkicking — Telford booted 13 majors last week against Dederang.
Beechworth’s Dylan Pritchard has also been productive with 27 goals to his name.
“I’m very happy with the forward-line structure,” Smith said.
“We’ve got some good, tall options going forward as well as some medium and small-sized forwards who can be dangerous as well.
“So it’s going to be about winning the footy out of the middle, controlling play and putting it in good positions for those guys.”
With plenty of interleague experience Smith knows just what it will take to come home with a victory.
And this time around perhaps there’s a little more at stake.
“I grew up in the Tallangatta league,” Smith said.
“And I’ve played and coached out that way.
“I really enjoy being part of that interleague process, and we’ve got a group that is really keen to represent the league and want to run out there fully committed to playing for the league.
“That’s what it’s about — taking pride in representing your league, pride in your club and pride in yourself while challenging yourself at a higher level.”