By Trevor Jackson
THE Mid South East Football League senior interleague coach Ben McGregor has announced his initial training squad to take on the Western Border Football League at Millicent on Saturday June 12 as part of the South East Zone Carnival.
The initial squad includes 44 players, with all sides well represented, but some may be unavailable due to injuries sustained during the weekend’s round of matches and the two rounds ahead prior to the interleague match.
However, McGregor said he is pleased with the response from both senior coaches and players keen to put up their hands to represent the league.
“I am pretty happy with that,” he said.
“It looks like we have lost a couple through injuries, but we don’t know the severity of those injuries at this stage.
“I haven’t talked to a lot of the players directly this year, but in 2019 we had about 34 on selection night to choose from.
“I am expecting similar numbers this year.
“I have spoken to the coaches and they are all pretty supportive of it and believe their players will be as well.”
McGregor said he felt the side would be strong, with most key positions well covered, particularly in the big men department.
“We have an abundance of ruckmen through the league which is something we have had for a long time in the Mid South East, which a blessing,” he said.
“That can also be a curse if we play and its wet and muddy, but that is football.”
McGregor said it was important to get the mix right, with previous carnivals finding the MSEFL short on the pace of the game.
“You have to have your big guys, but have to have your fast runners at interleague level,” he said.
“That is something we got found out about over a four or five year period where we were probably too Mid South East style for interleague level.
“We tried to speed it up a bit the last couple of carnivals and had better results.”
With just a few weeks remaining before the competition kicks off, McGregor is keen to see his charges on the park, but has only pencilled in three training sessions before the big day.
Training commences next Wednesday, June 2, with a further two training sessions scheduled for Tuesday June 8 and Thursday June 10 where the final team will be announced.
Initial Mid South Eastern Football League interleague squad
Glencoe: Dylan Childs, Tom Edwards, Alex Hentschke, Dylan Pfitzner and Patrick Mitchell.
Hatherleigh: Jordan Galpin, Michael Telford, Jack Skeer, Jake Dowdy, Joe Ferguson-Lane, Will Chay and Zach Jones.
Kalangadoo: Jason Bannister, Ben Gregory, Mitch Lowe, Tye McManus, Andrew Stone, Michael Krieger and Lachy Jones.
Kongorong: Cam Sandercock, Matt Weistra, Scott Fleming and Matt Cordy.
Mount Burr: Josh Wallis, Sam Wallis, Tyler Stanley, Josh Fiebig and Taylor Allen.
Nangwarry: George McWaters, Jake McKeon and Joel Virtanen.
Port MacDonnell: Daron McElroy, Mark Smith, Tim Sullivan, Kev Thomson and Ned Wilke.
Robe: Zac Deane, Tom Wachtel, Tom Williams and George Dutton.
Tantanoola: Jack Dawe, Chris Oliver, Jak Ryan and Roy Osborne.
