Catch up on all the latest football news as The Courier's football experts David Brehaut and Greg Gliddon preview round eight of the Ballarat Football Netball League and Central Highlands Football League, including a look at Ballan's special cameo player, Trent Cotchin.
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00:00 Welcome to our latest edition of Friday Footy Frenzy. I'm David Brio and once
00:05 again joining me is Greg Glidden as we look at everything in the Ballarat and
00:10 Central Highlands football leagues. Good afternoon Greg. Pleasure to be here David,
00:14 a big weekend coming up for you. Yes, for me in particular in the
00:17 Central Highlands but look it's always a big weekend for football supporters
00:21 isn't it in the Ballarat region and this week is no exception. Let's go
00:26 straight to the Central Highlands I think Greg and it's no secret that the
00:29 highlight, the headline act if you like of the the round is the appearance of
00:36 Trent Cotchen for Ballan. He's coming in as part of the Carlton Draft promotion
00:43 which of course gave five country clubs that have been battling over recent
00:49 times an opportunity to have a an AFL legend or great line up for them on a
00:54 once-off appearance and came through a draft. Ballan, they were lucky enough to
01:01 get selected to go into the draft. That's on the back of the fact that they spent
01:05 a couple of years Greg away from their home ground, hadn't played, been able to
01:09 play there because of a development. Certainly they've got a first-class
01:13 facility now but during that period they had to play all their games away and so
01:18 this year to get things going they were lucky enough to get in the draft. They
01:22 got number two pick and Trent Cotchen. Where's he going to line up David? Where do you
01:27 think he'll play? Well he's been selected across halfback and... Good way to get
01:31 plenty of the ball along there and just set up the set up the ground up ahead?
01:35 Yeah get a feel. I actually asked the Newland coach Gerrit Giampolo where do
01:41 you think he'll line up and he nominated the halfback line because I think that's
01:45 a nice easy way and then talking over the last couple of days to Harley
01:49 Baumgart, the Bolland coach, he said look he can play where he likes. It's just a
01:54 matter of getting him into the game and where he's most effective and whether
01:58 that's getting some possessions across halfback in the midfield or kicking a
02:03 few goals I think that would be more than satisfactory. And what about Newland?
02:08 I mean they've had such a struggling start to the year haven't they? They just can't
02:11 get out in the park. Well they're unbeaten but struggling in the sense
02:14 that they get out in the park but they don't stay there for long. They've had two games
02:17 abandoned as we know and the latest being against Hepburn so they're just
02:21 looking forward to at the moment about getting out there for 120
02:26 minutes and playing a full game. So their team I think is going to go really well.
02:31 I'm predicting that maybe, that seems a bit on the fence doesn't it, that they'll
02:36 be a top four team but we haven't seen enough of them yet to really lock that
02:40 in. There's plenty of conjecture out there. Will they or won't they? They've got the
02:43 players so yeah we'll see what Belan who's coming off a good win against
02:48 Clunes can do. So it's gonna be a fantastic day out there. We're live
02:52 streaming that game so if you can't get out to Belan, tune in on our website and
02:56 have a look and if you're busy doing other things during the day, you're
02:59 watching your own teams, catch the replay and see what Trent Cotchen does. And in
03:06 the blue and white he said when he was drafted his mother buried for Carlton. So
03:11 that sort of just breaks down the barriers a bit because he never imagined
03:14 himself running out there in the navy blue and white. Won plenty of big games against the Cats too, having said that over the journey.
03:20 So he'd know all about those colours. Yeah anyway it's gonna be a great day, big
03:26 crowd no doubt, a lot of excitement and just to see these players coming out
03:30 into the bush and playing the odd game like this is great for country
03:34 footy. Let's quickly run through the rest of the games in the Central Highlands
03:37 round eight. Match of the day as far as ladder positions go certainly it's
03:43 Carnum Linton and Bungaree at Snake Valley. Carnum Linton got an opportunity to
03:49 really step up in this game if they could cause an upset and it would be
03:53 and bring Bungaree down for the first time this season that would be a great
03:58 result and they're going to throw everything at it. Big day for the Saints
04:01 Justin O'Brien, he's been a doyen out there, one of the O'Brien brothers, four of
04:07 them play, the family's been engaged with the club for as long as anyone can
04:12 remember he plays his 200th game so that's exciting and they're hoping that
04:16 might give them a little bit of an edge perhaps and to set up an upset win
04:21 but I'll go for Bungaree but I'll tell you what Carnum Linton will throw everything at it.
04:25 In other games we've got Springbank at home to Dalesford. Springbank yet to win
04:31 more injury worries. Dalesford, they've got some good players back so they'll come in
04:36 stronger and they'll bounce back from a last start loss to Gordon. Gordon are up
04:41 against Bunyong. I'm going for the running premier the Eagles but it won't
04:46 surprise me if Bunyong gives this game a real crack. They're potentially a team
04:51 that could ruffle a few feathers before the season's out. They've lost a few
04:57 players including their Northern Territory trio over the last couple of
05:00 weeks so that hurts a little bit but Gordon's also got its issues like
05:04 everyone has but I think the Eagles get home but look out the Bombers a big
05:10 chance there. Dunstown at home to Warborough it'll be a win for the
05:15 Towns for sure. Rokewood Corandap plays Skipton at Rokewood.
05:21 Skipton coming off a really good win over Learmonth. I think they get home
05:26 against their arch rival Rokewood Corandap. Clunes are at home to Learmonth.
05:33 Learmonth, they'll be disappointed with their effort against Skipton but I think
05:36 they'll bounce back because Clunes was equally disappointing against Belen so
05:40 bounce back there and Hepburn play at home against Beaufort yet to win a game.
05:47 Massive day for Hepburn. One of their greats, one of the
05:52 Central Highland Football League's greats in Andy McKay plays his 300th game.
05:58 Had a really good chat with him the other day and if you haven't already
06:02 caught up with it we've run a really good feature, well I think it is, on Andy
06:07 and just out of interest if you look at their Facebook they've got a
06:11 tribute to him. It just goes on and on and on so if you've got a spare 15
06:16 minutes have a look at that because there's tributes from former teammates,
06:20 people in the media, official supporters, just shows of the impact that Andy
06:27 McKay has had out there. So that's round eight in the
06:35 Central Highlands Football League. Of course our coverage of the Central
06:39 Highlands as is this program is brought to you by Sheds and Shades by Design and
06:44 we thank them for their support during this season. They'll be of course the
06:49 sponsor of our live streams. Okay Greg I've left you 30 seconds to deal with
06:54 the Ballarat Football Netball League so you better rip into it.
06:58 I better rip into it, absolutely. Well thanks Greg, that was fantastic.
07:03 One huge game out of the five this week. East Point versus Sunbury, 1v3 on
07:08 the ladder. Match of the round, it's a toss-up. Sunbury hasn't lost a game all
07:13 season. East Point only lost that game in the first round, they haven't
07:17 lost one since. A bit of a watch on whether Jackson Merritt gets up for this
07:21 one so we'll just keep quiet on that one. If there is any doubt...
07:25 They'll keep quiet on it, not you. They've named him so we'll see where it unfolds. A little bit of
07:30 hip related issues there but we'll just see where that unfolds. I'm going for
07:35 Sunbury simply because they're unbeaten. Yeah well they're coming for a great win aren't they?
07:38 Oh they had a big win over Lake Winderay they should have done but
07:41 they've had big wins the last sort of two or three weeks so they're due.
07:44 Where do you see East? They're an interesting bit of a conundrum in many ways when you're weighing things up.
07:50 I don't pay any attention to the Round 1. Forget Round 1, no coach, all the rest of it.
07:56 Two weeks ago they beat Melton at Melton. That's their form.
08:00 I definitely see them as a top three or four side.
08:05 I was going to ask you that. Whether Sunbury, Melton, Daly, North Ballarat, any of those teams could finish in that top five or
08:12 I would have thought. Let me just quickly run through the other matches.
08:16 Backers Marsh versus North Ballarat. There's a little bit of a watch on North this week.
08:20 They've got a number of players missing and they've also named a very, very limited development squad their reserves team.
08:28 Backers Marsh had the bye last week, they had the bye next week.
08:32 They can go full on this week knowing that they've got pretty much nothing to lose on this.
08:36 By the way everyone's got a bye next week.
08:39 That's what we're saying, this is a one off game for Backers Marsh.
08:43 The other thing is Backers Marsh have done a quick run through the fixture for the remainder of the year.
08:49 Backers Marsh have the toughest draw of any team in the run home, which means they've got to get a scalp somewhere.
08:56 This might be the scalp at home.
08:58 A slightly understrength North Ballarat against a Backers Marsh team that's well rested.
09:03 Just keep a watch on that one.
09:04 Ballarat has dropped the last three, they should have no trouble against Mountain South, they'll be back on the winners list.
09:10 Sebastopol plays Daly. Daly have lost the last two.
09:15 I don't think they're going to be completely ramped up for at least until July.
09:19 They've got a six week period where you'll...
09:21 You said they've got some easy beats in that period.
09:23 I don't think the word easy beats is ever used in the Ballarat Football League, David.
09:26 But let's just say they've got a very good draw which includes three byes and two matches against the bottom two teams over the next five weeks.
09:33 So let's say...
09:35 And this game against Sebastopol, Sebas are on a win.
09:39 I can't see them beating Daly here.
09:41 And the other game is Melton versus Lake Wendaree.
09:44 Unfortunately for the Lakers after last week's performance against Sunbury, I can't make a case for that.
09:49 I think Melton, the blood's all bounced back on win comfortably.
09:51 Yeah, it's an interesting round this round.
09:53 I think it's across the board in a lot of football competitions before that long weekend break.
09:57 There'll be players that perhaps are not 100% and they'll be rested.
10:03 Give them two weeks off and then launch into the second half of the season.
10:07 And there'll be others that feel that if I can get another four points before the break, that's going to be pretty important.
10:13 So your match of the round is certainly East Point.
10:18 Versus Sunbury.
10:19 Yeah, so a lot of interest there in that game.
10:21 And that's at the Eastern Oval, is it?
10:23 Yes, if you can't get down to Ballan, get down to Eastern Oval.
10:26 And then you can get a crack in game.
10:27 Excellent.
10:28 All right, so that's the show for this week, brought to you by Sheds and Shades by Design.
10:34 We'll have next week off as far as football previews go, if you like, or covering games.
10:40 But we can guarantee you there'll be plenty of football content over the next week as we look at mid-year stats and the like.
10:47 So thanks for joining myself, David Brio and Greg Glidden once again.
10:51 And we'll catch you next time.
10:53 [Break]