By Tara Murray
Bragging rights will be on the line when the Riddell District Football Netball League’s best players come together to raise money for those affected by the bushfires.
A football and netball match pinning players from the west clubs against players from the east clubs will be played on February 16 at Riddells Creek Recreation Reserve.
Riddell, Romsey, Woodend-Hesket, Lancefield and Wallan make up the RDFNL east team, with Diggers, Rupertswood, Macedon, Melton Centrals and Rockbank making up the west team.
Most clubs have provided five players from their senior football team. In netball, clubs are providing one player from each of the four divisions, from A-grade through to under-19s.
Riddell president and RDFNL board member Andrew Power has taken the leading hand in organising the event. The matches will be played as part of a larger BlazeAid fundraiser being organised by Riddells Creek resident Scott Trezise.
“Brenton Knott [RDFNL president] ran it past me and it went from there,” Power said.
“We knew that Scott [Trezise] was doing the BlazeAid day event and we thought it could maybe run after that.
“We took the concept to him and he was on board.”
Money raised by the football and netball matches will be donated to BlazeAid and the CFA. Power said players from all clubs were wanting to be involved.
He said he was excited by the names that had put their hands up for the football match and that it would be a cracker of a football match. “The names have been put in so far has been pretty good,” he said.
“I’ve been more than impressed with the names. “It’s been driven by the players and the players are hearing about it and are wanting to be involved.”
Anthony Power will coach the east football side, while Damian Houlihan will coach the west side.
Riddell’s Ben Sonogan is the east captain. Dylan Tarczon, Matt Bowden, Jack O’Sullivan and Michael Mannix are among the stars in that team.
Diggers Rest premiership captain Tom Gleeson will captain the west team.
Brent Swallow, Jason Williams, Seb Miletic and Dylan Weir are among others in the team.
In the netball, Diggers Rest coach Pam Strong will coach the west team and the East team will be led by Wallan coach Chris Cameron.
Clubs have to until February 6 to nominate players.
Among those already committed are A-grade players Shelby Strong, Janelle Birch, Gemma Grimmond and Gen Zoch.
Umpires from both sports have also committed to the day.
Power said they were hoping that people would attend both the sporting event and the BlazeAid activities held prior to the matches.
Knott said the league wanted to do what they could to support those going through the hard times.
“It’s a great opportunity to get our community together to help another community.
“It’s a great initiative. As a board it’s imperative we help the community where we can.”
Who is playing in the RDFNL fundraiser
Football
East
Lancefield: Luke and Nathan Malone, Matt Bowden, Riley O’Meara, Alan Sinclair
Riddell: Ben Sonogan, Dylan Tarczon, Ethan Foreman, Riley Paterson, Michael Sahlberg, Nathan Croft
Romsey: Jack O’Sullivan, Nathan Rayment, Ayden and Nathan Tessari, Joel Naylor, Aaron Paterson
Wallan: Michael Mannix, Ricky Schraven, Patrick Mahoney, Shaun Stewart, Jarryd Bonello
Woodend: Brandon Wilson, Ethan Grech, Tyson Chapman, Harley Giddings
West
Diggers Rest: Jason Wilson, Tom Gleeson, Patrick Jackson, Dave Morrice, Josh Wallace
Macedon: Seb Miletic, Jarrod Bullus, Zach Smedley, Jack Kernan, Jack Mills
Melton Centrals: Daniel Foley, Dylan Weir, Jarrod Spry, Jacob Sinclair and Linton Hogan
Rockbank: Campbell Walshe, Mike and Will Gregson, Jake Mallia
Rupertswood: Brent Swallow, Cam McRorie, Bryce Caldone, Jayden Ballie, Mitch Boyd
Netball
(Clubs have until February 6 to confirm players)
East
Lancefield: Gen Zoch, Jordan Furness, Megan Wilson, Meg Dalgleish
Macedon: Janelle Birch, Georgia Fern, Steph Ferrier, Shanae Brundell
Wallan: Gemma Grimmond, Loz Parkinson, Alysha Shepherd, Zoe Phillips
West
Diggers Rest: Shelby Strong, Steph Barnes, Emma Brooking and Lauren Ashford
