STAR Gisborne defender Jack Reaper will have the honour of captaining Bendigo in its return to inter-league football later this year.
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Reaper will lead the Blue and Gold into battle when Bendigo plays a Victorian Amateur Football Association squad at Melbourne's Elsternwick Park on July 6.
It will be Bendigo's first inter-league game since it demolished Outer East by 99 points at the QEO in 2019.
Bendigo now has its on and off-field leaders in place for the inter-league return, with Reaper's appointment as captain following the announcement last week that Sandhurst's Ashley Connick will coach the side.
Reaper - a 2022 premiership player with Gisborne - has one inter-league game with Bendigo under his belt having been part of the 2018 team that lost to Hampden.
He missed the 2019 annihilation of Outer East while recovering from an ACL injury.
"It's exciting to have inter-league footy back and a great honour to be playing," Reaper said this week.
"It was a great experience back in 2018; to have the chance to play with the best players in the competition gives you the chance to build some relationships.
"It's great to have inter-league back as that next level to aspire to.
"The captaincy is a real honour; when Ash contacted me to ask me it took me a bit by surprise and I understand it's a pretty big deal.
"Jack Geary was our captain back when I played in 2018 as well and 2019, so it has been a while since we've had a different captain... it's a fantastic honour and some big shoes to fill."
Jack Geary was our captain back when I played in 2018 as well and 2019, so it has been a while since we've had a different captain... it's a fantastic honour and some big shoes to fill
- Jack Reaper
Despite all the headlines of the off-season centred around the exodus of star talent from the BFNL, the league still has a high level of quality at its disposal to select from in what will very much be a fresh-looking inter-league team.
From the victorious 2019 team only Gisborne duo Pat McKenna and Jack Scanlon, Sandhurst co-coach Bryce Curnow, Golden Square's Jayden Burke and Castlemaine's Bailey Henderson are still playing in the BFNL.
"It's a little bit different this year with inter-league being later in the year and where everyone's bodies will be at given it could be a chance for players to take a break," Reaper said.
"But having the bye back in the competition this year with Kyneton leaving, you'd think that should work pretty well in favour for inter-league in terms of getting buy-in from the best players in the league.
"There may not quite be the depth in the league as the past few years with a few stars leaving, but you bring in the likes of Fergus Greene and Lachlan Tardrew that if they are interested would make for a pretty scary team."
While the season is still just three games old for Gisborne, with the Bulldogs 2-1, Reaper has made a strong start to 2024 and leads Premier Data's intercept marks with 7.7 per game, while he's also the No.1 raked player for spoils (6.7 per game).
Inter-league coach Connick considered Reaper an obvious choice to be appointed captain.
"First and foremost he's a high quality player. He has captaincy experience at Gisborne, leads those boys really well and has the right personality fit for the role," Connick said.
"I think he will be able to bring guys together really quickly and lead from the front in that aspect.
"He's well respected around the league... he was the first guy I thought of, so I'm rapt he has taken on the job.
"Inter-league was really well led by Jack Geary for a long time as a captain and, hopefully, Reaps can pick up from where Jack left off, but do it in his own way, which is exactly what we want him to do."
Next on the agenda for Connick is locking in his coaching group and the training squad from which to select the inter-league team from.
"The plan is to get as many of the clubs involved from a coaching point of view and, hopefully, we have that finalised in the next week or so," Connick said.
"And the squad shouldn't be too far off either. One thing we will be doing is having a development player from every club involved and it has been good to chat to coaches about who should be put forward.
"It might be an underage player who has broken into the senior team who is on the right path or perhaps a first or second year senior player who would benefit from the experience and could be inter-league players in the next year or two."
