Jason Heatley has been appointed coach of the Northern Football League’s senior representative team to compete at the 2014 AFL Victoria Metro Championships.
The appointment follows AFL Victoria’s announcement that senior metropolitan representative football will return next season, with Melbourne’s six senior leagues to go head-to-head at Visy Park on Saturday, March 29.
Metropolitan leagues have been seeded one-to-six by AFL Victoria, with the NFL seeded fourth and drawn to take on the third-ranked Essendon District Football League (EDFL).
Promotion and relegation will apply to all matches to avoid leagues playing against each other in consecutive years, meaning a win over the EDFL would promote the NFL to the top-billed game in 2015 – against either the Victorian Amateur Football League (VAFA) or Eastern Football League (EFL).
Heatley – who coached Northcote Park to the 2012 premiership and is a dual Division 1 Coach of the Year – will be assisted by Bundoora’s now four-time premiership coach Phil Plunkett, Montmorency coach Bryan Cole and Heidelberg skipper Blair Harvey.
Heatley said he was excited by the return of senior representative football and to be named NFL coach.
“It’s obviously a nice honour,” he said.
“I’m very grateful for the calibre of assistants that we’ve been able to get on board and we’re going to be very experienced. Our players will get every little bit of effort that we’ve got to give them.”
“(Representative football) is something that I think all players should be excited about. We’ve seen the way Vic Country leagues do it throughout the course of the year and it’s now a great chance for our guys to showcase their talent against some quality opposition.”
With the coaching panel in place, the process now moves to the selection of players, with Heatley hoping to announce an initial squad in the next fortnight.
Once the coaching panel choose their squad, all selected players will be contacted by the league to ensure they are willing to participate in the representative match.
Heatley said the opportunity to play representative football was one of the highest honours a metropolitan footballer could receive.
“It’s all about opportunity,” he said.
“It’s certainly a chance for the players to test their wares against the best players out there.
“For younger guys, you only need one person at a higher level to take notice of who you are and what you’re about and what you stand for.
“For the older guys in the squad, the real leaders, it’s an opportune time for them to develop further and work on the qualities that they’ve already got.
“Personally, I don’t see (players declining selection) as being an issue and I can certainly vouch for my guys and my footy club that I want them to be involved and want them to be able to experience it.”
He said the squad’s training program wouldn’t be pieced out until early next year and would be worked to fit in with club pre-season training.
“The way I see it, guys are going to be doing pre-season with their club and we’re going to be a by-product of working in with the clubs,” he said.
“First off we want to get the guys in who are picked in the initial squad and run over the important focus areas.
"We’ll then start piecing everything together in the early stages of the new year, bearing in mind that the game is not until the end of March.
"Playing in the practice match period of pre-season works well for eveyone and to be able to get a quality game in prior to the start of the season probably suits everyone involved."
While the return of representative football marks an exciting period for the metropolitan football landscape, Heatley said the importance of winning could not be lost on players selected to represent the league.
“Reality says that AFL Victoria have seeded us fourth and it is extremely important that we win this game and set our sights on lofty standards in the coming years,” he said.
“Going back 10, 15 even 20 years ago, the Diamond Valley League were renowned for putting out awesome sides in rep footy and I think they won a couple of State Championships as well.
“This is the building blocks to get back to the top. We’re very confident that we’ve got a terrific spread of players across the board and certainly guys who I see running around week after week who will equip themselves very well.”
2014 AFL Victoria Metro Championships Schedule
Saturday, March 29 – VISY Park, Carlton North
11:00am – Western Region Football League (5th) vs Southern Football League (6th)
1:10pm – Essendon District Football League (3rd) vs Northern Football League (4th)
3:20pm – Victorian Amateur Football League (1st) vs Eastern Football League (2nd)
