Drouin playing coach Bob McCallum sees interleague football differently these days.
The 197cm ruckman will once again don the red, white and blue of the TRFM Gippsland League during Saturday’s Worksafe AFL Victoria Country Championships clash with Yarra Valley Mountain District Football Netball League.
This time, though, he will do so wearing the captain’s armband.
An older and wiser McCallum returned to the league this season and appreciates the important role he has to play in returning the proud league to its rightful place on the AFL Victoria Country rankings.
‘‘Now that I’m a bit older it’s something I’ll probably look to a bit more,’’ McCallum said.
‘‘As a youngster in interleague you just want to play well, but now that I’m in my twilight years you look to the team a bit more and you want to make an impact on the league.
‘’It’s the first time I’ve had the opportunity to captain, so I’m pumped to give it a go and really proud that I’ve had the opportunity.’’
At 28, McCallum is in the prime of his career, but in terms of this year’s squad he is something of a veteran.
He is the oldest player in the team, alongside Bairnsdale’s James Gibbs and Leongatha’s Shem Hawking, with the average age of Steve Hazelman’s squad less than 25.
McCallum signed off a coaching apprenticeship at Buln Buln as a playing assistant in the Lyrebirds’ Ellinbank and District Football League east division premiership last year.
He returned home to the Hawks’ nest this season as senior coach and will be right at home leading the league's representative side into the heat of interleague battle at Drouin Recreation Reserve on Saturday.
‘‘It’s always a good match, we seem to produce a fairly good team each year,’’ McCallum said.
‘‘We’ve been pretty unlucky, the two times we’ve been up to Bendigo we’ve been wayward in front of goals, so it’s something that really cost us but hopefully this week we can do the opposite.’’
Highly respected within the league, McCallum can lead this year’s inexperienced, but talented, squad by example and believes in the benefits of interleague football.
‘‘On a personal level I always find I come back a better footballer,’’ he said.
‘‘You train with the best in the league, so you take something off them, and then on the interleague game you’re playing against the best from another league, so you’ve got no other option but to lift your game yourself.’’
Sale centre half-back Jordan Dessent was named vice-captain for Saturday’s clash, which begins at 2.30pm.
Last Modified on 21/05/2015 22:27