THE McDonalds Ballarat Football League gets underway this weekend and the general manager is predicting an again even competition in 2019.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the official launch of the BFL season at Saxon House, AFL Goldfields GM Shane Anwil said come September there\u2019ll be familiar names, and some potential dark horses in the mix.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe expect this year will be as even as last,\u201d he said. \u201cLast year\u2019s grand finalists have not had significant changes at all, they are essentially the same teams. They were such strong teams last year and they are still going to among the top two.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019ll be a bit of shuffling in the mid pack and I think you could probably look at getting some improvement out of Sebas. We expect them to push for finals this year. The middle of the competition is going to show up how even it is.\u201d
\nPart of the reason for a more level competition has been the introduction of the player points system.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have the salary cap and then the points,\u201d Anwil said. \u201cThe points are probably the one that\u2019s having the real impact at the moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe evenness gives every club the sense of opportunity that they\u2019re going to be in with a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n
One person who wasn\u2019t willing to make predictions about the upcoming season was East Point veteran Paul Kodorenko.<\/p>\n
He said his club had a strong preseason and was looking forward to raising their first flag since amalgamation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a long time,\u201d he said. \u201cThe feeling\u2019s good, obviously you have to try and shift the focus a bit from last year to this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe boys are going pretty well, they\u2019re really fit and had a good couple of hit outs. So we\u2019re really looking forward to round one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kodorenko also felt the league was going to be a challenge for all teams.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe comp\u2019s really even now.\u201d He said. \u201cThe grounds are fantastic, and I think it\u2019s attracted a lot of quality players into the league. There\u2019ll be no easy games, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE McDonalds Ballarat Football League gets underway this weekend and the general manager is predicting an again even competition in 2019. Speaking at the official launch of the BFL season at Saxon House, AFL Goldfields GM Shane Anwil said come September there\u2019ll be familiar names, and some potential dark horses in the mix. \u201cWe expect […]<\/p>\n