Geelong and MPNFL claim Victoria’s community league top spots
COUNTRY football reigns supreme in Victoria, with Geelong crowned the best community league in the state.
COUNTRY football reigns supreme in Victoria, with Geelong crowned the best community league in the state following its win against the metropolitan Eastern league on Saturday.
Geelong defeated Eastern by four goals, 13.10 (88) to 9.10 (64), in the inaugural WorkSafe AFL Victoria Community Championships to officially claim the No.1 ranking in Victorian community football, having been the No.1 country league before this year’s interleague revamp.
This year’s games featured more than 30 country leagues and five metropolitan leagues, and the country sides matched against city sides on Saturday mostly held their own.
And it is guaranteed a country league will be No.1 until 2018.
The Mornington Peninsula Nepean league’s decision to revert from fielding individual Peninsula and Nepean sides to combining the two in an effort to become No.1 has cleared its first hurdle. It will play off against Geelong for the top ranking next year after beating the metropolitan Northern league by five goals.
Before Saturday’s game Geelong interleague coach Jeremy Dyer said being able to claim the No.1 community competition title would mean not only recognition for the league, but help clubs recruit.
“They can say they regard themselves as the best league in Victoria outside the VFL … hopefully then it attracts the right sort of person, not someone chasing cash, but (who) actually wants to further his footy,” Dyer said.
Bell Park’s Tim Sheringham, who shared Geelong co-captain duties with North Shore’s Jason Davenport, echoed those sentiments after Saturday’s success.
“It’s personal satisfaction that you’re playing in the best local footy league outside of the state leagues basically and the AFL,” Sheringham said.
“Not everyone can play AFL and VFL or SANFL footy, so the fact you get to reach your peak through another avenue is not too bad.”
Assuming there are no changes to the 2017 league rankings, the only metropolitan versus country leagues match-up next year will be the North Central league taking on the Southern league in the 23 v 24 match.
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