MCDFNL - Maryborough/Castlemaine District Football Netball League will use its hard running in its interleague battle tomorrow with Loddon Valley at Backhaus Oval, Golden Square.
A young running team will take to the field for MCDFNL, aiming to stop a more experienced Loddon Valley.
Coach of the MCDFNL outfit Geoff Dixon said the quick run by his players is the key to success.
"We've gone with a fast running side with our emphasis on run and spread," Dixon said.
Starting with a squad of 35 a month ago, due to injury and unavailability that was cut below the 24 required, forcing Dixon and his assistant coaches in Wayne Driscoll and Craig Mortlock to call up Royal Park coach Justin Perry.
Perry adds height to the team along with Navarre coach Ben Martin, who is vice captain, and Jackson Bowen from Carisbrook.
Along with Martin, Navarre has young Josh Driscoll and silky onballer Daniel Parkin representing the club.
After winning its clash with the now defunct Lexton Plains last year, MCDFL has a chance to make it back to back wins and make a stand in the interleague challenge.
Helping that cause will be that Dixon, who is in his second year at the helm, has gone with players who are currently in form and, as he said "Not just by who they are."
Dixon believes if his outfit can kick around 15 goals they should come close to winning, but he is also very wary of the Loddon Valley line up.
"They've kept it pretty guarded (Loddon Valley team), but on paper we match them fairly well everywhere apart from their forward line. They've got a couple of big boys down there that might cause a bit of trouble," he said.
In form Maryborough Rovers defender Scott Sellers will lead Maryborough/Castlemaine into battle as captain of the team, standing alongside Martin and former Wimmera player Liam Offer (Carisbrook) at half back.
If the fast running plan of Dixon's works on the wide open spaces of Golden Square then the MCDFNL could have the advantage over Loddon Valley, but they'll need to work hard to ensure success.
Navarre has good representation in the under 17 match, with five players pulling on the MCDFNL guernsey. Jesse Hannett, Lachlan Slorach, Curtis Bibby, Billy Parry and Zac Chisholm were all picked in the 26-man squad.
Line up:
B: W Bell (Mal), J Anderson (Car), J Cross (Mal)
HB: S Sellers (MR), B Martin (Nav), L Offer (Car)
C: T Cain (Mal), P Chaplin (Har), L Edwards (Av)
HF: B Turner (Tre), N Locandro (Lex), M Brown (Lex)
F: B Mortlock (NB), C Kelly (Mal), T Reece (New)
R: J Bowen (Car), M Giri (Har), J Driscoll (Nav)
I: D Parkin (Nav), L Bright (New), A Matthews (Tal), A Pollock (NB), J Perry (RP), B Kick (Car)