Liam Durkin

A MODERN take on interleague was unveiled at the weekend.

After no representative football or netball in the last few years, and with leagues across the state reluctant to organise games, the Gippsland League took matters into their own hands.

Last Saturday was set aside for some of the best young players in the Gippsland League to play some form of representative football and netball.

Players across the league were selected for an in-house version of traditional interleague. Teams were selected based on location of the player’s home club, with ‘Team Navy’ pooling from Morwell, Traralgon, Bairnsdale, Maffra and Sale, while ‘Team Red’ took in Moe, Warragul, Drouin, Leongatha and Wonthaggi.

The cut-off age for participation in senior football was set at 25 in order to showcase some of the best young players in the competition. The move may have also allowed potential AFL and VFL scouts to make their way down to Traralgon knowing they would be viewing a high-quality game.

Morwell playing-coach Boyd Bailey led the Navy side, while Moe assistant Shane Paynter answered the call to replace Jed Lamb as coach of Red as the Warragul coach was dealing with recovery from his horrific leg injury.

Team Navy took bragging rights, winning 12.12 (84) to 7.8 (50).

Maffra’s Kade Renooy was voted best-on-ground, and received good support from former Eagles teammate Hudson Holmes, Traralgon pair Luis D’Angelo and Tye Hourigan, and Morwell VFL product Tristen Waack.

Team Red was well-served by Moe’s Riley Baldi, Tallin Brill (Leongatha), Jake Hume (Leongatha), Tom Evans (Drouin) and Sean Masterson (Warragul).

Junior football saw Navy defeat Red by 32 points.

Sale’s Hudson Holmes in action for Team Navy. The Gippsland League played a modern
incarnation of traditional interleague last weekend.

IN senior netball, Red defeated Navy 60-45.

Leongatha’s Nicola Marriott won best-on-court honours.

Others to play well were Drouin teammates April Bethune and Ava Gaul.

For Navy, Morwell’s Courtney Garth was a standout, along with Warragul pair Sienna Green and Selene Chadrawy.

The netball teams were selected via a draft process by coaches Rachael Paterson (Navy) and Staci Gardiner (Red).

Under 17s netball was won by Navy 51-39, Red 42-27 in Under 15s and Navy 29-25 in Under 13s.