Written by Luke D'Anello
The Southern Football Netball League will field star-studded line-ups in Saturday's interleague clashes with the Western Football Netball League.
The Southern league is chasing more representative success after its triumph over the Riddell District league last year.
A triple-header of matches will be staged at Werribee's Avalon Airport Oval this weekend, with the under-19s game to be held at 10am, the senior women at 12pm and the senior men at 2pm.
The senior squads, which have both been reduced to 25 players, are packed with talent, leaving the league confident of a strong interleague showing.
The men's line-up features the likes of Sean Lai, Sam Hayes, Alex McComb (all Cheltenham), Joel Zietsman, Jake Richardson (both Narre Warren), Jackson Peet (Dingley) and Luke Grima (East Brighton).
The women's squad includes last season's senior league best-and-fairest winners Eden Tone (Casey Thunder) and Emily Terlicher (Black Rock), while Endeavour Hills sisters Alyssa and Nicola Weston are also key players.
The men's team will be steered by Cheltenham premiership coach Des Ryan, with Andy Scott (St Paul's McKinnon), Kris Thompson (Springvale Districts) and Zach Horsley (Dingley) his assistants.
"There's some really good additions and I'm happy with the squad. It's what we can get available, so it's pretty strong," Ryan said.
"I think it's time that Southern put their hand up and showed everybody how good we are.
"It's going to be a contest, but we can't establish ourselves without knocking off somebody.
"There's four big leagues in town, and we're taking on one of them."
The men's squad will have its final training session on Thursday night, giving them five sessions together.
Experienced mentor Ryan, who led Cheltenham to the 2023 division one flag and is no longer coaching at club level, said he enjoyed the interleague concept. He also steered the SFNL to victory last year.
"I enjoy it because it's all I get to do," he quipped.
"From a footy sense, it's my grand final."
The women will be coached by Murrumbeena's Lauren Luff, with Steve Rowe (Mordialloc), Justin Redinger (Casey Thunder) and Caitlyn Davey (Lyndale) her assistants.
"I was excited at the opportunity, but now that I've spent some time with these girls and seen the talent that they have, I'm really excited for us to take the stage on Saturday," Luff said.
"The fact the girls can come and learn something new and take it back to their clubs I think is a really important part of this, but it also shows girls that are either already playing football, or not playing football, or junior girls, that there are pathways just out of local footy.
"I think it's massive for women's footy and the growth of the game."
Bentleigh's Liam Dimattina will steer the under-19s team.
