Ballarat Clarendon College out to make final in the shield

Ballarat Clarendon College will embark on a new challenge in the Herald Sun Shield on Wednesday. Meet the stars, including an AFL Draft hopeful, of the show.

Ballarat Clarendon College (BCC) hopes a team-first environment can bring the school success as it enters a new frontier in the Herald Sun Shield.

The school will take on Maribyrnong College in the senior boys semi-final as the best team from the Ballarat Association Schools (BAS) this season.

WATCH THE HERALD SUN SHIELD CLASH LIVE

Usually, St Patrick’s College is the team to beat in the BAS but this year the school made the move to send its best team to compete in the Associated Catholic College (ACC) competition.

It provided the chance for other schools to have the opportunity to compete in the Shield, which BCC have taken.

“We’ve won the BAS for the first time in 17 years,” BCC coach Brad Macgowan said.

“We understand that’s because St Patrick’s have taken their senior side out of it and put it into the Catholic competition.

“But we’re excited by this game and really excited by the opportunity to get into the Herald Sun Shield at the top level and take on whoever.”

Ballarat Clarendon College has plenty of history in the Shield, competing in the girls competition and winning the country Shield before the structure changed in recent years.

Macgowan said the move by St Patrick’s has made the BAS far more competitive for other schools.

“They (St Patrick’s) have more than three times the boys to choose from compared to the other Ballarat schools.,” he said.

“They have moved into a competition more like their (level).

“What it’s done is it has reinvigorated the BAS competition

“BCC and Ballarat Grammar have played some close games over the past few seasons and that continued to be the case.”

Macgowan said his school had a proven track record of producing high-end talent.

Recent graduates include brothers Jarrod and Tom Berry, at Brisbane and Gold Coast respectively, Hugh McCluggage (Brisbane), Willem Drew (Port Adelaide) and Essendon young gun Ben Hobbs.

There are high hopes that the college has another potential top 30 draft pick in their squad this year.

Joel Freijah is one of the key players for Ballarat Clarendon College. Photo by Morgan Hancock/AFL Photos via Getty Images

Greater Western Rebels player Joel Freijah has been one of the best for the Coates League team and has also impressed for his school.

Macgowan said the outside midfielder, who can also play as a utility will be used in that position for the clash against Maribyrnong.

“To be honest we won’t pay Joel on the ball, we’ll play him as a utility, either in defence or attack,” he said.

“He uses the ball and reads it so well we tend not to play him in the middle.”

The coach said the team wouldn’t be relying on him to win the game, instead it would be a team effort with a focus on attack.

“We feel like we’ve got a strong forward line, so our focus is certainly trying to get the ball into the forward half and keeping it in there,” Macgowan said.

“We base our game on pressure and we measure pressure acts and try to put the opposition under good pressure at all times.

“It’s attacking minding but pressure is pretty defensive.

“This is our ninth game of footy.

“We have set positions, set structure and a lot of the boys live together in the board house and we train together.

“Our boys care about our school and we play with College spirit. It’s more about team going down to beat Maribyrnong.”

Ballarat Clarendon College will play either Padua or The Parade in the grand final if it wins.

Ballarat Clarendon College celebrate winning the BAS title earlier this year. Picture: Ballarat Clarendon College.

A win would make it the 13th year in a row a Ballarat school has made the final.

Here is a bit of information on each member of the team from the coaches.

Kepler Jones – A tough contested ball winning inside midfielder. Loves to tackle.

Liam Mason – A dominant centre half forward who is a strong marking player. Is also an accurate left foot set shot.

Sam Sutton – A small forward.

Will Kennedy – A small forward

Luca Geue – Can be an athletic third tall defender.

Joel Freijah — A gun outside midfielder who has represented the GWR Rebels and played for Victoria Country this season. Has got long arms and is good decision maker.

Nathan Ling – An athletic inside midfielder

Darcye Moloney – A key defender who is the son of Shaune Moloney, an assistant coach of the team and a former premiership captain with North Ballarat’s VFL side

Zane Attard – A clever outside midfielder

Liam Broster – An athletic outside midfielder

Oscar Miller – A tall/solid bodied inside midfielder

Rawden Rodgers – Outside midfielder

Oliver Finch – A clever outside midfielder

Sam Slattery -An athletic 3rd tall forward who is a good contested marking player.

Charlie McClure – A goal kicking forward.

Ben Locke – The General of the backline. A hard at it half back flanker.

Saxon Sounness – An athletic ruckman. One day he could be attempting to pursue an NFL punting career as he can kick the ball a mile.

Mac Scoullar – A dominant 200cm key forward who plays for the GWR Rebels. And was also part of the Victoria Country squad but didn’t play. He is a good overhead marker and goal kicker.

Tom Kirby – A determined full back.

Zac Lang – The BCC captain who is an inside midfielder and a contentested ball winner and can run all day.

Tom Selkirk – Small defender that plays his role for the team.

Declan Jones – A general defender that can go forward and kick goals.

Sam Phillips – A clever small forward who brings great pressure and goal kicking power