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THERE was certainly some irony in the absence of inter-league football and netball on Saturday.
Remember back in November when AFL Victoria announced it was scrapping its Community Championships inter-league games this year, saying that it won't "facilitate the Championships in 2020 based on feedback from clubs and leagues that the current program doesn't meet their needs".
In making its decision AFL Victoria stated its main areas of feedback around the Country Championships from clubs and leagues were "concerns based around the validity of the ranking system, inconsistent levels of competition, travel, increasing costs and pressures placed on leagues, fixturing, administrative demands and player availability."
However, AFL Victoria left the door open for leagues to organise their own representative games and right from the outset the Bendigo Football-Netball League made it clear it didn't want its players to be denied the chance of pulling on the Blue and Gold in 2020.
Bendigo had a willing partner in Ballarat and on Saturday it would have been the next chapter of the fierce goldfields rivalry between the two cities on the football ground and netball court.
What should have been a celebration of league pride though was instead another Saturday with an absence of community sport due to the coronavirus pandemic that for the meantime has season 2020 frustratingly on hold.
The matches - senior and under-18 football, open and under-17 netball - would have been played at Ballarat's Mars Stadium.
And fair to say it would have been a traditional bitterly cold Ballarat day where long sleeve jumpers would have been sort in abundance.
Darryl Wilson was set to coach the senior team for a second year and while no training squad had been officially released before the season delay was announced, a list of 54 names with the input of club coaches had been earmarked.
So, what calibre of team could Bendigo have taken to do battle with Ballarat?
I've had a crack at a team of 24 from the initial list of 54, albeit this side excludes players who are on VFL lists:
B: Coby Perry, Clayton Holmes, Liam Barrett
HB: Sam Heavyside, Bryce Curnow, Nathan Horbury
C: Adam Baird, Jack Geary (c), Rhys Magin
HF: Billy Evans, Jayden Burke, Andrew Collins
F: Kaiden Antonowicz, Pat McKenna, Lachlan Sharp
R: Chris Down, Brodie Filo, Jaryd Cachia
INT: Jon Coe, Jake O'Brien, Brad Bernacki, Bailey Edwards, Brody Haddow, Josh Formosa
EMERG: Sam Harper
.............................................
That squad includes three new players into the competition this year in the former AFL pair of Billy Evans (Eaglehawk) and Jaryd Cachia (Golden Square), as well as Bailey Edwards, who has returned to Maryborough and has played inter-league on the MCG with Ballarat.
It's a pity Bendigo didn't get the chance to build on the momentum of last year when it crushed Outer East by 99 points on a pristine day at the QEO.
Outer East was no match for Bendigo's run-and-gun brand of football, but Saturday's conditions at Ballarat would likely have made for a far more contested game.
Not to mention Bendigo certainly owes Ballarat some payback given the past three encounters between the two were wins to Ballarat in 2017 (9 points), 2015 (77) and 2013 (23).
Ballarat, which had appointed Carlton legend Anthony Koutoufides as coach, also would have had a point to prove too given it was coming off back-to-back losses, including a 74-point drubbing from Jonathan Brown's Hampden last year.
But like all community sport that is on hiatus, absence makes the heart grow fonder and, hopefully, this year off will help make inter-league come back bigger and better in 2021.
Meanwhile, inter-league stalwart Jack Geary (pictured) comes out on top when looking back at the BFNL's top inter-league performers of the 2010s decade.
Using the 6-5-4-3-2-1 formula based on best players, Geary earned 17 votes across his seven inter-league games for the decade.
Geary was rated among the best players in five of Bendigo's 2010's inter-league matches - vs Gippsland in 2010, 2014 and 2016, vs Hampden in 2018 and vs Outer East last year.
Throughout the 2010s a spread of 47 players featured among Bendigo's best players in its 10 inter-league games.
BFNL inter-league votes for the 2010s:
Jack Geary - 17
Adam Baird - 12
Grant Weeks - 10
Clayton Anderson - 10
Simon Rosa - 9
Tom Waters - 9
Matt Thornton - 9
Brodie Filo - 8
Nathan Bell - 6
Stephen Milne - 6
Trent Donnan - 6
Andrew Collins - 6
Jake Thrum - 6
Ollie Messaoudi - 5
Matt Smith - 5
Brayden Dorrington - 5
Brenton Conforti - 5
Codie Price - 5
Kieran Strachan - 5
Kain Robins - 4
Brady Childs - 4
Nick Stagg - 4
Justin Dorward - 4
Tim Martin - 4
Nathan Horbury - 4
Tom Hams - 3
Tim Hill - 3
Jon Coe - 3
Dylan Johnstone - 3
Jack Reaper - 3
Bryce Curnow - 3
Tim Nicolson - 2
Travis Baird - 2
Wayne Schultz - 2
Jake Hall - 2
Chris Ryan - 2
Harry Conway - 2
Brodie Collins - 2
Liam Barrett - 2
Steven Stroobants - 1
Jon Coghlan - 1
Nick Smith - 1
Lee Coghlan - 1
Tom Toma - 1
Ben McPhee - 1
Jack Fallon - 1
Pat McKenna - 1
BENDIGO'S 2010S DECADE OF INTER-LEAGUE MATCHES:
2010 - 15.11 (101) def Gippsland 12.20 (92)
2011 - 5.12 (102) lt Geelong 19.8 (122)
2012 - 18.12 (120) def Gippsland 15.7 (97)
2013 - 8.17 (65) lt Ballarat 13.10 (88)
2014 - 19.14 (128) def Gippsland 13.16 (94)
2015 - 4.12 (36) lt Ballarat 17.11 (113)
2016 - 17.8 (110) def Gippsland 12.7 (79)
2017 - 4.10 (94) lt Ballarat 16.9 (105)
2018 - 10.13 (73) lt Hampden 11.16 (82)
2019 - 18.17 (125) def Outer East 3.8 (26)
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