THE Hume league will finalise its interleague squad this week.
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Osborne premiership coach Daniel McAlister will coach the team for the second successive year when it clashes with Picola North-West at Tocumwal on May 24.
Henty co-coach Jamarl O’Sull- ivan will be his assistant.
Hume has played traditional rivals the Tallangatta and District league for the past five years, with Tallangatta leading 3-2.
Tallangatta joined the Victorian Country Championships this season forcing Hume into a new representative frontier.
It has pushed on with plans to participate in a more localised competition following a proposal from the AFL North East Border Commission.
The end result has been the creation of a new competition, in which the Picola and District Football League’s South-East and North-West divisions will take on the Hume and Riverina leagues at Tocumwal.
Hume league president Merv Wegener said the board had vowed to crack down on clubs which failed to support the new interleague concept this year.
The league last year suffered one of its darkest representative days in history when a second-rate outfit suffered a humiliating 97-point slaughtering at the hands of Tallangatta.
The board has unveiled a new approach, which will see clubs obligated to ensure the availability of at least two of its most talented players.
“At our annual meeting last year it was decided that instead of selectors naming players, the onus would be on each club to nominate two or three of their top players,” Wegener said.
“Every club knows what is expected of them this year and must support it.
“A selection committee will choose the final side and any player selected is expected to make themselves available.
“We simply can’t have a situation again like last year because its not fair on the coach or on the players that do want to play.”
Under-17 football will also be played alongside senior and junior netball.