ONE of the strongest Central West AFL representative sides that has been assembled in recent years will head to Ungarie this Saturday to take on Northern Riverina in their annual clash.
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While the side is dominated by players from the two Bathurst Bushrangers outfits which currently top the league – it has 14 selected - Orange, Young and Bathurst Giants have a presence in the squad as well.
No-one from Dubbo or Cowra nominated, but manager Tony Lewis is still impressed with the strength of the squad which will represent CWAFL.
“You can never get the strongest side a league could field on the paddock, in the 25 years we never have and I’m sure Northern Riverina would say the same,” Lewis said. “But in saying that, I’m fairly confident with the squad we’ve got. I’ve been involved with this rep side for a long time now and it’s one of the strongest sides I’ve seen.
“The whispers out of Northern Riverina is that they’ve got a strong, physical side, a lot of big men, but our side is very quick.
“We have big, strong ruckmen and our on-ballers are as strong as all hell.”
The Bathurst side, which is coached by Bushrangers duo Matt Griffin and Matt Archer, will be playing to defend that Matt Smith Trophy.
Smith played in both the Central West and Northern Riverina before he died as a result of a severe epileptic seizure. He was 33.
“Matt was a really nice guy. He played for CSU and he kicked 200 goals in one season playing for Cowra before he went to play for West Wyalong,” Lewis said.
“There are a lot of people in both leagues who still know of him, so it’s a nice touch to play for that trophy.”
The game will be contested over four quarters of 25 minutes, but this year things are slightly different. Instead of the senior and junior fixtures between the two leagues being played on the one day, the under 12s, 14s and 17s games have already been contested.
“It’s Northern Riverina’s turn to host this year and they decided to split the event. Northern Riverina like the seniors a bit later because all their guys are on tractors harvesting earlier in the season,” Lewis said.
“We beat them last year … so they will come read to play on their home turf. It ebbs and flows as to who is strongest – some years we stitch them up and they’ve given us stitch ups too.”