Southern league intent on improving ranking in AFL Vic Community Championships

Keen to improve its ranking in the AFL Victoria Community Championships, the Southern league says it’s willing to suspend players who try to avoid playing interleague.

Dingley star Dany Ades is likely to be named captain of the Southern team.

The Southern Football Netball League says it’s prepared to suspend players who try to dodge interleague selection this year.

Officials including CEO Lee Hartman are eager for Southern to improve its ranking and reputation in the AFL Victoria Community Championships.

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Southern watchers believe the standard of Division 1 and 2 has improved significantly in the past two years.

But when the SFNL meets Riddell District on Saturday, May 18, it will be ranked 19th in the state.

Hartman said he wanted Southern to be ranked lower and had told the clubs players would be open to sanctions including suspension if they didn’t commit to interleague.

“It’s very important from my point of view,’’ he said.

“Where we’re currently ranked, we should be doing better than that and I’ve expressed that to the presidents.

“We’ve put a new interleague policy in place and we want our best players playing.

“Ben (coach Ben Lockwood) looks after the playing side of things and selection, but as a league we’re taking it very seriously. It’s not only the league’s ranking on the line but we’re investing some finances and resources into the program as well. We wouldn’t be doing that if we weren’t serious about it.’’

Southern league CEO Lee Hartman.

Hartman was a strong advocate of interleague football in his previous role as head of AFL Barwon.

He said he had “no doubt’’ Southern’s top players could “get our ranking into the top dozen and that’s what we should be aiming for’’.

“So we’ve put in place a stronger policy around player availability and the ramifications of players making themselves unavailable or at least communicating with the coaches once they’re selected in the squad,’’ Hartman said.

“Just not showing up won’t be tolerated any more. You have to have an injury or at least be having conversations with the coach about your availability. For too long they (coaches) have put together a squad of, say, 60 and only half turn up with no genuine excuses. We have the power to hand sanctions to both footballers and netballers who aren’t prepared to play and basically treat the program with contempt. Most definitely we’re prepared to suspend them.’’

Interleague coach Ben Lockwood.

Hartman added: “We’re not ranked where we should be and the only way we’re going to improve that is by getting commitment. The Division 1 weekend (on Saturday week) is for the community championships, not a bye or to have the weekend off.’’

Lockwood has coached the representative team for three years and Southern has won each time — over Ellinbank, Central Highlands and North Central.

The former East Malvern and Chelsea Heights senior mentor said this year’s squad was the strongest he’d had “on paper’’.

Lockwood said he and the match committee weren’t necessarily looking to select the 22 best players in the SFNL.

“I think it’s about picking guys who can play their role and are culturally a good fit for what we’re trying to do, which is to improve Southern footy,’’ he said.

“We’re ranked fairly moderately. We want to get up to where we belong, which is around the eight to 14 mark.

“A benefit of that in club-land is that it will make it easier to recruit more quality players.

“Looking at the comp this year, it’s as strong as it’s ever been, going back to when Noble Park and Balwyn and even Parkdale were powerhouses. I think it’s got back to that sort of strength, which is really good.’’

Highett star Sam Jackson is in the interleague squad.

Dingley big man Danny Ades captained the team in 2018 and is likely to do so this year.

Cheltenham’s marquee recruit Myke Cook and East Malvern top-liner Like Duffy have both suffered season-ending knee injuries and Port Melbourne Colts star Chris Deluca is going back to WA for a short holiday and is unavailable.

With the SFNL making Division 1 a stand-alone grand final this year, only players from the top grade are involved in the interleague fixture.

The team will be announced at the final training session next Thursday.

Williamstown VFL assistant coach Clint Proctor, Ryan Flack and Brad Collins are Lockwood’s assistant coaches.

INITIAL SQUAD

Ashley Di Ciero, Michael Rogers, Matthew Troutbeck (Bentleigh), Myke Cooke, Drew Kelly, Sean McLaren, Kyle Parsons, Daniel Vaughan, Dylan Weickhardt, Jack Worrell (Cheltenham), Danny Ades, Adam Caplan, Kristen Feehan, Joshua Ferguson, Christopher Horton-Milne, Travis La Rocca, Jackson Peet, Robert Rusan, Lucas Walmsley (Dingley), Mackenzie Bristow, Christopher Carey, Luke Duffy, Aaron French, Paul Fry, Lucas Hall, Jack Hammond, Alex Hywood, Luke Poustie, Liam Sumner (East Malvern), Tom Brown, Kyle Hendy, Samuel Jackson, Macklin Raine (Highett), Luke Barnhoorn, Todd Bastion, Benjamin Humphrey, Joshua McPherson, Ryan Semmel (Mordialloc), Jake Carosella, Jake Mullen (Oakleigh District), Callum Cathcart, Mitchell Clarke, Matthew Dalla-Libera, Christopher Deluca, Lachlan Harris, Matthew Sondergeld, Justin Taylor (Port Melbourne Colts), Raphael Clarke, Mykelti Lefau, Perry O’Hehir-Vargas (St Kilda City), William Clarke, Jack Hayes, Harrison Hunt, Matthew Kreymborg, Stephen Muller, Alexander Spencer, James Sziller (St Pauls).