A junior round-robin football carnival will give Hampden coaches a chance to see players eligible for an under 17 match against a powerful Ballarat competition later this year in action.
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The Bottle Greens will send two under 17 sides to compete at the 2024 South West junior carnival in Heathmere and Portland on Sunday, May 5.
Two under-14 outfits will also represent the league.
Former Warrnambool senior coach Ben Parkinson and Portland junior mentor Justin Impey will oversee the under 17 teams while Koroit premiership coach Andrew Foster and Aaron Ross, from North Warrnambool Eagles, will mentor the under 14 sides.
Parkinson said he was excited to help the Hampden league's next generation.
"We have decided to do it as East and West because we entered two (under 17) teams in this competition," he said.
"Justin will coach the western side of the Hampden league which will be Portland, Hamilton, Port Fairy, Koroit and South (Warrnambool) and I will do the east which will be Warrnambool, North Warrnambool, Terang (Mortlake), Camperdown and Cobden, which is a good idea.
"The plan from this round-robin competition is we'll then pick a squad and the final team to play the Ballarat league in the other interleague competition when the under 23s and 17s play in July. We'll use this as a bit of a selection trial."
Parkinson said interleague had far-reaching benefits for players, in particular camaraderie built when travelling together for away matches.
"They get to meet kids who they play against all the time. Some of the best weekends I had was playing interleague footy and you become mates with guys you usually play against," he said.
Justine McCullagh-Beasy
Sports journalist with an interest in feature reporting. Email: justine.mc@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Sports journalist with an interest in feature reporting. Email: justine.mc@austcommunitymedia.com.au
