Leader picks its mid-season Northern Football League representative team

The Queen’s Birthday is traditionally rep footy weekend and in the absence of it, we’re picking our 2022 Northern Football League All-Star team.

We’ve reach the half-way mark of the Northern Football League season.

The Queen’s Birthday long weekend is traditional a time for representative footy and the NFL won the No.1 rank in Victoria in 2019.

You know the competition is good when the likes of boom ex-AFL recruit David Zaharakis and reigning Rosbrook Medallist Lachie Wilson can’t get a look in.

Local Footy journo Ben Higgins, with advice from some of the league’s top coaches, has picked a mid-season All-Star team.

Every Division 1 club is represented but VFL-listed stars have been excluded.

Bundoora star Sam Lloyd. Picture: Stuart Milligan

BACKS

Three club captain anchor a backline that is as potent offensively as it is stingy defensively. Greensborough skipper Jack Johnston and teammate Nick Riddle lead the way and the likes of Angus Seivers and Billy Bedford are unlucky to miss out such is the talent at War Memorial Reserve. Northcote Park gun Ben McNiece and Hurstbridge skipper Lachie East have impressed this season despite their club’s on-field struggles and add AFL and VFL experience and leadership. Montmorency co-captain Stef Uzelac stands at centre half-back but could well be a Team of the Year forward after 12 goals in his past two games and has also been run through the middle, such is his versatility. Finally, Whittlesea’s David Mennen has earned a spot on the half-back flank through his performances but is on the verge of leaving the league following the removal of Blair Harvey as Eagles coach. A blow for club and competition.

FORWARDS

The race for the NFL Division 1 goalkicking award is fierce this season and it’s made picking six forwards incredibly difficult. A mix of smalls and talls, make this attack dangerous. Leading the competition with 25 goals is the imposing figure of Montmorency spearhead Patrick Fitzgerald as the deep marking option. Heidelberg star Josh Minogue claims the centre half-forward position with a mixture of speed, marking prowess and goalkicking ability he’s been hard to stop this season. In the pockets, North Heidelberg dynamo Billy Hogan and West Preston-Lakeside co-captain Ahmed Saad are as dangerous on the ground as they are on the lead. Minogue and Hogan have 24 majors and Saad has 21 despite playing just the five games. On the flanks, Bull Sam Lloyd and Rooster Aiden Tilley can work up the ground and hurt defenders with their run back to goal.

Tom Bell in action for Greensborough. Picture: Valeriu Campan

MIDFIELD

The three Division 1 Coaches’ MVP leaders – Jesse Tardio (North Heidelberg, 48 votes), Liam Wale-Buxton (Montmorency, 45) and Matt Smith (Heidelberg, 44) – lead the All-Star midfield. Pretty straight forward, right? Not so much. The competition is flush with gun onballers but there’s no doubt Tardio and Smith stand out from the pack. Add in centreman Tom Bell and it’s a pretty intimidating engineroom. Magpie recruit Wale-Buxton has been dominant this season and was a unanimous pick by the coaches surveyed. Bell is a big-bodied weapon in midfield and pushes forward to hit the scoreboard having kicked 14 goals this season. The wing positions were more difficult and perhaps we’ve fallen into the All-Australian trap of pushing onballers out but Monty co-captain Sam Binion and Bundoora’s Luke Collins are just as comfortable breaking lines and delivering forward as they are winning the hardball.

INTERCHANGE

We’ve been a bit cheeky here and picked an extended six-man bench. Can you blame us? North Heidelberg best-and-fairest winner Charles Le Fanu and Heidelberg’s Dylan Clarke can play just about anywhere on the ground. Clarke in particular has been a revelation having moved down from Wodonga Raiders. Currently running fourth in the Coaches’ MVP voting, Macleod’s Lucas Hobbs was impossible to ignore. Meanwhile, Danny Younan has been a major factor in Bundoora’s strong start to the season and has 20 goals – fifth most in the competition. In the key position stakes, Northcote Park recruit Alex Boyse has impressed at both ends of the ground this season. As capable taking intercept marks in defence as kicking goals in attack. Finally, Hamish Sheppard gets the nod as the second ruck-forward. Despite missing a couple of games, his impact when on the field for Bundoora is undoubted.

UNLUCKY

These blokes were stiff, we could select a pretty competitive Second XXII. Rosbrook Medallist Lachie Wilson is the obvious one. The Heidelberg star produces week-in, week-out despite plenty of attention from opposition, while Sam Gilmore is running fifth in the Coaches’ MVP voting, but we can’t pick every Tiger. On reputation and influence, David Zaharakis has a fair case after a solid start to life at Bundoora yet gets squeezed out. Montmorency ex-AFL recruit Lin Jong and Mitch Honeychurch too are hard to leave out given their excellence. Shout outs too to the likes of Nick Matthews (North Heidelberg), Kieren Andrew (Heidelberg), Jack Biancin (Macleod), Tom Schennering (Heidelberg), Xavier Dimasi (Whittlesea), Alex Federico (WPL), Angus Seivers (Greensborough) and Joel Naylor (Hurstbridge) who were all in the mix.