VFL champ Ben Jolley to play on in 2021

Jolley will line up for his 17th season in the state league after agreeing to terms with Port Melbourne for 2021.

Ben Jolley getting a handball away for the Borough. Pic: Port Melbourne FC

An old familiar face will be in the playing ranks when a new-look VFL kicks off in 2021.

Champion Ben Jolley will this week sign a contract to continue at Port Melbourne, the club he joined at the end of 2018 after a stellar career at Williamstown.

It will be his 17th season in the VFL: he started in the state league in 2005 at Bendigo Bombers, when he was on Essendon’s AFL list.

Jolley will be 35 when the ball is bounced for the 22-team competition next year.

New list rules mean stand-alone clubs such as Port Melbourne can have only 28 players over the age of 22 on their books, and coach Gary Ayres has given Jolley the nod to go on.

His decision was made easier by the departure of senior hands Jordie Lisle, Tommy Goodwin and Dylan Van Unen.

Jolley told Leader the year off had freshened him up and he was keen to continue with the Borough.

“With a full season of football behind me, I wouldn’t be in the space I’m in now,’’ he said.

“I kind of think it’s put everyone back on a level playing field.

“I’m unsure how the others players have dealt with the lack of football, how they’ve approached training. I’m interested to see how I shape up against others and how they shape up against me.’’

Jolley said his motivation for going on was “as it’s always been, just trying to get the best out of myself’’.

“I’ve never woken up and thought, ‘Gee, I can’t do this’ or ‘I don’t want to do this’. It’s more along the lines of, if I can get out and do what I want to do, the football has generally taken care of itself, a consequence of being fit and healthy.

“I enjoy the camaraderie of playing in a team. I enjoy playing footy.’’

Ben Jolley marking for Williamstown.

He said if the club had told him he wouldn’t be contracted for 2021 he would have accepted the decision.

Jolley said he appreciated the support of Ayres and the Borough.

“The respect I have for the man, with all these rule changes and playing conditions and salary caps, if he’d said, ‘Look, Ben, in all honesty, here’s my lock team of 22 and you’re sitting 25th or 26th, it might be time’, then he would have had the right of way, no problems.

“I would have had no hesitation in going like that. But he thinks I can do a job for him.’’

After three years with Bendigo and four AFL games with Essendon, Jolley crossed to Williamstown in 2008.

Many awards and accolades came to him as a Towner: four best and fairests, the 2015 premiership, six years as captain and seven selections in the VFL team of the year.

This year Leader named him the best VFL player of the past 20 years.

In his first season at Port in 2019, Jolley played the first 10 matches and averaged 21.2 possessions, only for an abductor injury to send him to the sidelines.

The Borough have landed a trio of former AFL players in 2016 Western Bulldogs premiership defender Fletcher Roberts, former St Kilda ruckman Lewis Pierce and ex-Melbourne midfielder Cory Wagner.