Interleague: Ovens and Murray and Goulburn Valley meet at Albury
The teams have been named for the Ovens and Murray-Goulburn Valley clash at Albury on Saturday. Find out who has been picked.
Host club Albury has the most players selected to represent the Ovens and Murray against Goulburn Valley on Saturday including Riley Bice and Jesse Wilson, who will back up for a second season of interleague.
The Tigers, who have dropped only one match this season to be sitting third on the ladder behind Wodonga and Yarrawonga, have five players picked in the final 22-man team with Hamish Gilmore, Jimmy Grills and Lucas Conlan also selected.
Albury could have had even more players in the team with injured duo Isaac Muller (concussion) and Jacob Conlan (jaw) automatic selections if available.
Undefeated Wodonga had no players selected last year, but Charlie Morrison, Sam Jewell and Josh Mathey have been picked for their O and M representative debuts.
Yarrawonga full-forward Leigh Williams, who also played last year, will captain the O and M with Wangaratta Rovers midfielder Cody Schutt named vice-captain.
Yarrawonga is well represented in the side with Matt Casey, Ryan Bruce and Bailey Frauenfelder also selected.
Former Greater Western Sydney utility Sam Reid, who is in his second season with Echuca, has dropped out of the GV line-up.
The GV team includes the past two winners of the Morrison Medal, Seymour pair Ben Rigoni and Jack O’Sullivan, and last year’s leading goalkicker, Chris Nield from Mooroopna.
Mansfield duo Frazer Dale and Lachie Murphy-Dale, who previously played in the O and M for Myrtleford, have been picked to play for the GV.
FINAL TEAMS
OVENS AND MURRAY
B: R. Bruce (Yarrawonga), C. Morrison (Wodonga), H. Gilmore (Albury)
HB: J. Wilson (Albury), L. Conlan (Albury), E. Mackinlay (Lavington)
C: J. Grills (Albury), C. Schutt (Wang Rovers), B. Riccardi (Myrtleford)
HB: J. O’Brien (Lavington), M. Casey (Yarrawonga), B. Frauenfelder (Yarrawonga)
F: D. Stone (Wang Rovers), L. Williams (Yarrawonga), R. Bice (Albury)
FOLL: J. Driscoll (Lavington), B. Glanvill (Lavington), B. Filo (Wang Rovers)
INTER: S. Jewell (Wodonga), J. Mathey (Wodonga), J. Hayes (North Albury), J. Gerrish (Wang Rovers)
Coach: Damian Sexton
GOULBURN VALLEY
B: D. Gugliotti (Mooroopna), R. Huggard (Mooroopna), K. Clarke (Shepp United)
HB: E. Penrith (Tatura), A. Mills (Echuca), J. Evans (Echuca)
C: Z. Banch (Shepp Swans), K. Herbert (Kyabram), R. Smith (Echuca)
HF: J. Trotter (Euroa), B. Christopher (Mansfield), L. Murphy-Dale (Mansfield)
F: J. Magro (Shepp United), W. Monahan (Echuca), C. Nield (Mooroopna)
FOLL: B. Stephenson (Shepparton), F. Dale (Mansfield), B. Rigoni (Seymour)
INTER: H. McCarthy (Tatura), J. O’Sullivan (Seymour), R. Mason (Seymour), L. Hill (Euroa)
Coach: Mark Lambourn
DOUBLE BLOW FOR O AND M
Ovens and Murray has suffered a second major setback in the lead-up to its interleague clash against Goulburn Valley on Saturday with Yarrawonga midfielder Harry Wheeler ruled out.
Wheeler, who was in contention to captain the O and M against the league he formerly played in, will miss the match against GV and Yarrawonga’s next game after accepting a one-match suspension for striking Myrtleford’s Sam Martyn in their match last Saturday.
Wheeler submitted the early guilty plea for the third-quarter incident that was assessed by the league’s match review panel after escaping the attention of umpires on match day.
The incident was graded careless with medium contact to the head.
AFL Victoria rules state he can’t represent the O and M while under suspension and he won’t play again until June 10.
Yarrawonga has the bye created by Corowa-Rutherglen being in recess this season the week after the interleague game before playing Wangaratta Rovers in its next game on June 3.
The O and M was already dealing with the loss of another certain selection, Albury’s Isaac Muller, who was concussed last Saturday.
The O and M will train on Wednesday night for the final time ahead of Saturday’s match at the Albury Sportsground.
Wheeler played for Seymour in the GV before switching to Yarrawonga in 2019 when O and M coach Damian Sexton was coaching the Pigeons.
He missed last year’s grand final due to injury.
GV SEEKS REVENGE
Goulburn Valley is still smarting from its big loss to Ovens and Murray last year with immediate redemption the aim for new coach Mark Lambourn.
Lambourn has been given the task of turning around the 55-point hiding when the two leagues meet for the second year in a row on May 20 at the Albury Sportsground.
The GV released its squad for the game this week with former AFL duo Will Hayes and Michael Hartley notable omissions.
But Lambourn will have the services of former Greater Western Sydney utility Sam Reid and the winners of the past two Morrison Medals, Jack O’Sullivan and Ben Rigoni, who both play for Seymour.
“It still stings them and they still talk about it,” Lambourn said of last year’s loss at Mooroopna.
“I can’t change what happened, but what we can do is shape what is coming forward.
“All we can do is put them head-to-head and see what happens.”
Reid is among seven players from reigning premier Echuca named. Kyabram’s Kaine Herbert finished runner-up in the Morrison Medal last year and is also in the squad.
Mansfield’s Frazer Dale and younger brother Lachie Dale, who previously played for O and M club Myrtleford, are also in the GV selection mix.
Lambourn is a premiership coach of Shepparton Bears and also won a Morrison Medal.
He has enlisted the help of GV great Stephen Ash and Simon Eishold, who coached the GV to a win over O and M 20 years ago at Wangaratta.
O and M coach Damian Sexton couldn’t fault his team’s preparation with more than 30 players attending two training sessions to date.
But in-form Wodonga star Angus Baker has broken his hand and won’t play while Albury forward Jacob Conlan is in doubt after missing his team’s last match.
“All our players are in form. We couldn’t be happier,” Sexton said.
Lambourn and Sexton have crossed paths previously as opponents in the 1989 O and M grand final for Wodonga and Yarrawonga respectively.
Sexton also played under Lambourn when the latter coached the Murray league representative team in the early 2000s.
THE SQUADS
OVENS AND MURRAY
Albury: Riley Bice, Jacob Conlan, Lucas Conlan, Hamish Gilmore, Isaac Muller, Elliott Powell, Jessy Wilson.
Lavington: Ben Ashley-Cooper, Jack Harland, Ewan Mackinlay, Jake O’Brien, Nicholas Newton.
Myrtleford: Ryley Bouker, Thomas Cappellari, Sam Hilton-Joyce, Brody Ricardi.
North Albury: Archer Gardiner, Foster Gardiner, Julian Hayes, Jack Reynolds.
Wangaratta Rovers: Tom Boyd, Brodie Filo, Jack Gerrish, Alex Marklew, Toby Murray, Cody Schutt, Dylan Stone.
Wodonga: Sam Jewell, Tom Johnson, Adam Jorgensen, Josh Mathey, Charlie Morrison.
Wodonga Raiders: Tom Bracher, Nick Bracher, Jason Burke, Ned Conway, Cam Ellis-Yolmen, Brad St John.
Yarrawonga: Ryan Bruce, Harry Wheeler, Leigh Williams, Cam Wilson.
GOULBURN VALLEY
Benalla: Josh Marchbank.
Echuca: AJ Mills, Riley Smith, Jack Evans, Will Monahan, Sam Willoughby, Sam Reid, Jack McHale.
Euroa: Jett Trotter, Lachie Hill, Adam Giobbi, Andrew Smith.
Kyabram: Lachie Smith, Toby Wooler, Kaine Herbert, Zac Norris.
Mansfield: Patty Marks, Ben Christopher, Frazer Dale, Lachie Murphy-Dale.
Mooroopna: Chris Nield, Dom Gugliotti, Ethan Hunt.
Seymour: Ben Rigoni, Jack O’Sullivan, Riley Mason.
Shepparton Bears: Adam De Cicco, Ted Lindon.
Shepparton Swans: Andrew Riordan, Zac Banch.
Shepparton United: Jayden Magro, Kyle Clarke.
Tatura: Harley McCarthy, Ethan Penrith.
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