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AFTER leading Bendigo to a 99-point demolition of Outer East last year, Darryl Wilson is now setting his sights on the Blue and Gold beating rivals Ballarat for the first time in more than a decade.
The BFNL announced the re-appointment of Wilson as senior inter-league coach on Wednesday for the clash with Ballarat on Saturday, May 2.
Having returned to coaching at Strathfieldsaye this year, Wilson's first focus when considering the inter-league role again was to have it ticked off by the clubs.
"When I was approached again I requested the league to approach all the clubs that they were comfortable with me taking on the role and there wasn't an issue with that," Wilson said.
"As far as preparing, I'll probably have to lean on the guys (support staff) in terms of feedback with what's going on at other games, but the big advantage these days is we've got vision of all the games. So I'll commit to watching the vision of games, but I'll have some fairly heavy artillery helping me in terms of experience."
Wilson's assistant coaching panel last year that included Rick Ladson, Stephen Milne and Simon Rosa have committed to being involved again, while Wilson will also look to tap into new Maryborough coach Justin Abrams' knowledge of the Ballarat league.
The match will be played at Ballarat's AFL-standard Mars Stadium.
With the AFL Victoria Community Championships having been scrapped this year, the inter-league day has been organised by the two leagues.
Bendigo last beat Ballarat in 2009 and has since lost its past three games against its goldfields rival.
"It's a great opportunity to play on that facility over in Ballarat," Wilson said.
"The league is fully committed to it and we're really looking forward to getting a squad together in the coming weeks and adding to that when we see who comes into the competition."
Wilson will coach against Carlton legend Anthony Koutoufides, who will be in charge of Ballarat.
The BFNL will again have a development squad as part of its inter-league build-up that may increase from last year's one player per club.
The BFNL has also announced the re-appointment of Jason Stevens as under-18 inter-league coach.
Stevens coached Bendigo's under-18s to a 10-point win over Outer East last year, while later in the season he led Kangaroo Flat to its first under-18 flag.
"To have Darryl and Jason again commit to leading our representative football teams is extremely exciting for the league and provides us a great opportunity to continue to build on the significant success and momentum gathered throughout the 2019 inter-league program," BFNL manager Cameron Tomlins said.
"Both coaches possess the ability to entice the best players in our league to participate in representative football and are continuing to develop a strong culture and sense of pride in playing for the Bendigo FNL jumper."
Netball coaching announcements will be made in the coming weeks.
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