Anthony Koutoufides and Jonathan Brown to coach interleague

Interleague will be back for two country competitions later this year with two AFL legends set to coach against each other in a game with a twist.

Interleague will be back in a big way for the Ballarat and Hampden leagues this year after both recruited ex-AFL stars as coaches to lead their teams.

Ballarat (BFNL) has announced Anthony Koutoufides will finally get the chance to coach the team when it takes on Hampden on July 1 at Mars Stadium.

Set to coach the team in 2020 the Carlton legend, who played 272 games for the Blues, was unable to fulfil the role after Covid forced the season to be shut down.

He will now coach the Ballarat team against Hampden who will be led by former Brisbane Lions champion Jonathan Brown.

Brown, originally from Warrnambool, will return home to coach the competition he grew up in.

Jonathan Brown. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

BFNL chairman Adrian Bettio said the former All-Australian had unfinished business in Ballarat and was keen to coach for the first time.

“Anthony will be a great inclusion to our interleague program in 2023,” he said.

“His knowledge and expertise will give the players a real boost to not only perform at this level, but to take back to their home clubs only strengthening our competition.”

This will be first time since 2019 both competitions have played interleague.

As a result both competitions have decided to make it a contest between under-23 talent.

It will showcase the young stars in the competition and those not exposed to representative football over the past three years.

More information on teams and assistant coaches will be made in the lead-up to the match.