Ovens and Murray coach Damian Sexton wants players to do the league proud in Saturday's interleague football clash against Goulburn Valley at Mooroopna Recreation Reserve.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The pair is fierce rivals, first meeting in 1930, but has met only once since the end of 2010, where the O and M claimed a seven-point home win in 2017.
"We're enemies at club level, but we've got to understand who we're representing, that's the most important thing," Sexton explained.
"We're playing for the volunteers at the clubs, your team-mates who didn't make the side."
It's the O and M's first representative match since falling to Mornington Peninsula Nepean by 41 points in 2019.
Only four players remain from that side in Wangaratta duo Jamie Anderson and Joe Richards, Albury's Michael Duncan and Yarrawonga hard nut Harry Wheeler.
"We want to get dirty (legally) and win the ball in close, which we have with Harry Wheeler and Cam Wilson types and then get on the outside where we can show our speed," Sexton offered.
"I believe the GV is a little bigger than us, but that's OK, if we've got the ball, they've got to catch us."
Anderson will again spearhead the defence, as he did against MPN, while he will be supported by fellow tall and Wangaratta team-mate Dylan Van Berlo.
Yarrawonga's Leigh Williams will lead the forward line after blasting 26 goals in only three games, while Wangaratta Rovers' Alex Marklew has also been terrific at club level.
"We've also got the youth of Tom Boyd, Kaelan Bradtke and Jake McQueen," Sexton suggested.
Werribee-listed Boyd is the ideal tall utility.
He debuted for Wangaratta Rovers with five goals against Wodonga Raiders over Easter, but given Werribee team-mate Nathan Cooper makes only rare appearances for Rovers, while fellow key defender Tyson Hartwig is yet to play with a serious back injury, Boyd has been called upon to feature in defence.
There's no doubting the class of both outfits, but the permanent question surrounding any rep outfit is how quickly the group gels.
"You don't get that opportunity to play next week and fix it up, so you have to get the group compatible and united and that starts from the moment you arrive for the first training session and the boys have been fantastic, the dligence has been unreal," Sexton enthused.
Although it's difficult to truly gauge which league is the strongest, there's no doubt the result of the match, perhaps unfairly, will see the winner snare the unofficial public vote.
IN OTHER NEWS:
Both leagues place enormous pressure on themselves to win, but the O and M certainly signed higher profile players over summer, so it carries extra pressure.
To read more stories, download The Border Mail news app in the Apple Store or Google Play.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter: @bordermail
- Follow us on Instagram @bordermail
- Follow us on Google News