James Nelson, Matthew Bardy (over 35s), Brett Pontt (over 45s), Ivo Mol (over 55s division one), Dennis Martin, Mark Hulme (over 60s division one), Bert Eastoe, Laddie Bardy and John Dommett (over 60s division two) were all picked in Victorian teams, while Billy Anderson made the ACT over 40s side.

Martin, who is heading into his 16^th national campaign with Victoria, is confident of a good result.

He first represented Victoria at the nationals in 1993 in the over 40s.

“It’s a very high standard,” Martin said.

“Last year we came third (in the over 60s), which we were happy with.

“We’ve kept pretty much the same team and we’re hoping to make the grand final and we’re pretty confident we can do that.”

Players will be vying for selection into Australian teams for next year’s World Masters in Barcelona, Spain.

Martin admitted it is easy for him to stay motivated and continue to play at a high level because of his love for the game and the friendships made along the way.

“Because we’ve been going for so long, we’ve got to know some really good blokes and have great mates from all around the country in other teams,” Martin said.

“One of the good things about the nationals is that you play each other and straight after the game you do a few warm downs and go catch up for a drink together.”

The Victorian teams will again be largely metro-based.

“About eight years ago, we used to have a country team, but because of the logistics of going up in age groups, we were finding it hard in the country areas to continue to have a full team,” Martin added.

In the meantime, Hulme and Martin will fly out to Glasgow next week for the European Cup after being selected in the Southern Cross Masters – made up from players all around Australia.

The Southern Cross outfit will play five games in seven days against a number of different countries.

“We’ll have a good chance of making the finals in that one,” Martin said.

“I played with the Southern Cross last year in Newcastle at the Grand Masters World Cup.

“We had two teams and my team came third and the other team came second.”

Martin and Hulme are two of three Victorians to make the Southern Cross side, with the rest of the team made up from NSW and Queensland.

The European Cup runs from August 19 to 27 and will be played across the over 60s, over 65s, over 70s and over 75s age groups.