I was annoyed to hear that they would not have SA, WA etc in this 150 year celebrations however it is great to see McLeod captain again. Especially as I thought how well he led Australia vs Ireland in the past this will probably be the only time we get to see McLeod captain in our game seeing as he has stated before he does not want to captain full time. Pity they wont have as much to play for if it was real SOO.
Full article at: http://www.afc.com.au/Season2007/News/NewsArticle/tabid/4417/Default.aspx?newsId=53812afl.com.au said:THE AFL has announced a one-off clash between a Victorian representative side and a “Dream Team” made up of the best of the rest of the country’s players that will form the centerpiece of the game’s 150th year celebrations.
The match will take place at the MCG on May 10 and is designed to pay tribute to playing greats of the past.
It will incorporate the annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony that will occur on the Thursday leading up to the match.
“We’ve got a fantastic vehicle next year for our 150th anniversary celebration; it will be a one-off opportunity to see the 50 best players playing in our competition on the MCG for the first and last time.
“The list [of great players] goes on and on and we’re all salivating at the thought and the prospect of this fantastic game.”
The Victorian side will be coached by Mark Thompson, who will be assisted by Bomber legend Kevin Sheedy, while his 2007 Grand Final counterpart, Mark Williams, will oversee the Dream Team with the assistance of Neale Daniher.
Brisbane power forward Jonathan Brown will skipper the Vics, with current All-Australian skipper Andrew McLeod to lead the Dream Team.
The match will be a key factor in deciding the make-up of the 2008 All-Australian side, with the form of the first four rounds taken into account in selecting the teams. It will also count towards players’ career records, with any suspensions arising from the game carried over to the next home-and-away round.
“We’re [also] delighted that the players have decided to donate any match payments to charities including the AFLPA past players health hardship fund.”
With no other AFL matches scheduled for the weekend, Demetriou said all players not participating in the match would be headed back to their original local teams in a bid to promote grassroots football.
“We want the focus to be on state league and particularly community football,” Demetriou said.
“A major part of our push for that weekend will be to have people attend their local football that day, so that three or four million or maybe even more people are spread across the country watching the grassroots football that makes us so strong.”
“I just can’t wait to get out there and get stuck into them and prove that Victoria produces the best footballers,” Brown said.
Daniher, however, was having none of that.
“We might come from New South Wales and Tassie and South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory but we have one common thing; we love to belt the Vics out here at the MCG,” he said.
“The players are all elite athletes who have egos who will want to test themselves against the best.”
Williams had no doubt the match would be a hotly contested one worthy of tuning in for.
“When I was first asked I said ‘Well is it going to be a fair dinkum game or not?’ because I didn’t want to be involved [otherwise],” he said.
“There’s no restrictions [on selection] and there’s no doubt it’s going to be a fair dinkum game