MAYBE its origins can be traced back more than 20 years, but there is perhaps no greater rivalry in the AFL Under 18 National Championships than Vic Country and Vic Metro going head-to-head.
Back in 1989, Vic Country, seemingly all odds, defeated Vic Metro in its introductory year and went on to win the AFL Under 18 National Championships.
Sure, Vic Country, circa 1989, boasted an array of future AFL stars – Chris Grant, Leon Cameron and Wayne Campbell – but its upset victory against Metro set the scene for a storied rivalry, which has grown year by year.
Vic Metro has extracted its revenge more often than not along the journey, but it does little to dampen the spirit whenever the two Victorians go head-to-head.
While Vic Metro has won eight of the 10 encounters during the 21st century, five matches have been epics with 16-points or less determining the outcome.
Two years ago Jack Watts, the subsequent No. 1 choice at the AFL National Draft, secured victory for Metro with a goal on the siren. Last year, Country reversed the result, winning by 16-points.
While predicting the outcome of Sunday’s match is fraught with danger, what can be safely suggested is that it will be a close, keenly contested affair with nothing left in the locker room.
Results of recent trial matches point to a match that will offer great match-ups with little separating the teams.
Vic Metro coach Rohan Welsh acknowledges the prevailing tradition, which dates back to that initial encounter.
Welsh noted that the match was “always physical”, fiercely contested with little evidence of the free-flowing style of matches that usually prevail later in the Championships.
“I’ve only been involved since last year, but from what I’ve been told there has been a culture of rivalry built up over the years,” Welsh said.
“It’s almost like playing an intra club (match), and you know what it’s like when you come up against your teammates, you almost go harder than you do when it’s the opponent.”
While Country haven’t trained together as often as Metro, but coach Rob Hyde doesn’t believe that will be an overriding factor.
Hyde noted that the country TAC teams didn’t train together all that often but it did not stop them performing well on a weekly basis.
“They come together really well. Even at their TAC Cup clubs they have to gel pretty quickly,” Hyde said.
Hyde said he was confident that Country would prove “competitive”, especially if the midfield is able to win the ball and deliver it quickly into attack.
“I think we have a couple of good forwards who could trouble the opposition if we get it in there quickly,” he said.
“I know I’ve got some classy players and there are some I’m not quite sure about, but that’s the good part about it – I’ll wait and see if they stand up under the pump.
“There’s enough there to say that if we play our best we’ll be competitive.”
Welsh said the planning for the Championships had been exhaustive with all those involved in the squad working towards the opening match.
“They are coming together as a real team, something that you hope for. I think we struggled in that area last year, but this year the boys seem to have taken on that responsibility and have got around to know each and every player and made it feel like a footy club.
“Hopefully, that will stand out. While we had a good starting midfield last year, I think our midfield depth goes deeper this year.
“I think we have a more even spread of players across the board. Last year we had a couple of stand out players like Tom Scully.”
Welsh said it was imperative that everyone in the squad contributed for Metro to obtain its desired result. “Having a team mentality rather than an individual mentality is vital,” he noted.
Last Modified on 31/05/2010 13:16