Test of strength … Marcus Smith’s (above) Albion and Brodie Holland’s (left) Maribyrnong Park will be competing in the James Boags Pre-Season Invitational at Bulleen Park on 6 March. Fans can rate teams on Big Footy, and the rankings will be used to split teams evenly into two groups, with the top two teams of each group advancing to the semi-finals. 47848
By Michael Esposito
PUBLIC opinion will decide the fixture of a new football carnival designed to gauge the best league in metropolitan Victoria.
The James Boags Pre-Season Invitational, to be held at Bulleen Park on 6 March, will pit eight teams, including WRFL champions Albion and EDFL premiers Maribyrnong Park, against each other in the round robin tournament.
Fans can rate teams on popular Aussie Rules web forum Big Footy, and the rankings will be used to split teams evenly into two groups, with the top two teams of each group advancing to the semi-finals.
Such is the anticipated interest in the tournament that Betstar will create a betting market for every game.
Ben Charles, from the event management company Sports Support, said the tournament is merely a first step in what he envisaged to be the ultimate battle of local footy leagues. While this year’s event will be regarded as somewhat of a test run, Charles believes it can in the future be taken seriously an arbiter of the standard of metro leagues.
“That’s the entire concept, it is to get to that point, but I think we’re all clever enough in the football world to know that 6 March is not really going to tell us who is the best league,” he said.
“I think what it’s done is it’s given them ownership that they are the league representatives. And the clubs that we spoken to are using it as a practice match, but with the $5000 in prizes and money that’s on offer, some clubs sort of need all the help they can get. They will be fielding close to full-strength sides.”
The prize-money will increase considerably if an agreement is reached with Betstar.
“We’re in the midst of signing an agreement with (Betstar general manager) Alan Eskander who wants to see this get off the ground for the next three to five years, and there could be huge prize-money on offer,” Charles said.
The competition’s ability to compare the strength of leagues has been compromised by the absence of Noble Park and Old Xavier – two teams that declined because it didn’t fit into their pre-season plans.
“I think once we get this off the ground that maybe next year we can push the date closer to the season, hopefully we can have those teams fixture it into their pre-season after they win a grand final. This year we didn’t want to impede on clubs’ pre-seasons,” Charles said.
“Unbelievable support from the clubs, the presidents, the coaches, for an initial start up project, to get the sort of response we’ve had its far exceeded all of our expectations.”
Charles said he has been in discussions with larger event managers about how this tournament can be integrated into the new Australia-wide Leagues Championship Cup, which will be screened on Foxtel this year.
EDFL media host Matthew Pillios, who will help run the event, said South Barwon and Maribyrnong Park are the two clear stand-outs, while Old Carey and West Preston will challenge. Mulgrave and Albion are expected to rank fifth and sixth, with Riddell and Clayton rounding out the eight.
Pillios said Maribyrnong Park had the team to go all the way.
“With a ton of ex-AFL and VFL players including Brodie Holland, Luke Livingstone, Marc Bullen, Kade Carey, Aisake O’hAilpin, Murray Boyd and Ryan Crawford, I think they will be hard to beat,” Pillios said.
“Old Carey and West Preston will be two that can challenge. It’s an even spread and I honestly think any of the top six can win it, and Riddell and Clayton both won’t be disgraced at all.”
