Courtesy of: Leader Community Newspapers
by Braden Ingram (@BradenIngram)
REPRESENTATIVE footy is all about the best footballers showing off their best skills and this weekend’s interleague clash between the Eastern Football League and the Victorian Amateur Football Association fits the bill.
However, it won’t necessarily be the silky skills of either side that ultimately determines who wins at Carlton’s Princes Park this Saturday, says VAFA coach Simon Lethlean.
The Ammos boss believes the side that settles first and has the best chemistry will be in the box seat.
“Having played in these games before, you can’t spend too long on strategy, you’ve just got to back the fact that the guys can play and try to get a bit of harmony between the group more than anything else,” Lethlean said.
“I think we probably beat the EFL two years ago based on that.
“They hadn’t come together as much as we had and I think we were a bit tighter, which probably had an effect on the outcome.”
Lethlean has had just two sessions to sight his players so far but says that having approximately 10 previous interleague representatives in the current squad greatly improves its harmony.
2014 EFL PRE-SEASON WIKI
Recent VAFA v EFL clashes have thrown up thrillers and, given the strength of the EFL squad, Lethlean doesn’t see this game being any different.
“If history is true they’ll be a really robust team that has strong contested ball winners and probably some big key ball winners,” Lethlean said. “They’ve got some really talented players like Kris Pendlebury and these sort of guys that are really strong ex-VFL midfield types and they’ll be switched on up forward so I imagine they’ll be a pretty powerful side.”