The match against the Ellinbank and District Football League will be played on May 19 in Ballarat, with players from all District league clubs represented. 

Edenhope-Apsley has the most amount of players in the squad, with 12 players named. Eight players from the Swifts were selected, with seven from Natimuk United and four apiece from Harrow-Balmoral, Kalkee and Noradjuha-Quantong. 

It is a new-look side to last year, as the Southern Mallee Giants departed the league and a number of quality Harrow-Balmoral players leaving the Southern Roos in the off-season. 

The league’s interleague director Fred Mellington said it was exciting to have the squad led by Harrow-Balmoral’s Nick Pekin.

Read more: Nick Pekin to coach Horsham District interleague side

“We are really happy to have someone of the quality of Nick Pekin doing our coaching,” Mellington said.

“He is a past Victorian captain and brings a lot of passion and enthusiasm to the job. We have a brilliant coaching panel with Tim Inkster (Jeparit-Rainbow), Gareth Hose (Noradjuha-Quantong) and Guy Smith (former Horsham Demons), all of which have bucket-loads of experience in their own right.”

Mellington said the interleague contest provided players with an opportunity to test themselves at a higher level.

“You can only have one team win a grand final each year in the league itself, so interleague gives players from the whole league the opportunity to play in a very good team,” he said.

“They train with the best in the league, are able to pick up and improve their skills and get to play in a very high quality game. After the grand final, playing in an interleague game is the highest standard of game a player can play.”

The Horsham District and Ellinbank leagues will meet halfway in Ballarat, with Mellington expecting it to be a good contest.

“We are looking forward to the game and playing in Ballarat anything could happen with the conditions,” he said.

The squad starts training on Sunday at Horsham College Oval on Dimboola Road.

Jack Vague, Daniel Parkin, Liam Jakobi, Louis Papst, Hugo Papst, Kyle Dumesny, Jack Musgrove, Bernie Kealy, Jordan Smith, Alex Ridsdale, Garry Hallam, Wil Ridsdale, Jaydon Stiles, Dusty Cross, Sam McClure, Tom Crawford, Pete Weir, Damon Folkes, Damian Monaghan, Brett Ervin, Ben Taylor, Clint Rokebrand, Cooper Henson, Shayne Williams, Andrew Cameron, Nathan Koenig, Lachlan Middleton, Taylor Milner, Matthew Butler, Jak Ryan, Jeremy Kealy, Chris Oliver, Bart Nolan, Jason Kerr, Liam Scott, Matt Healy, Ryan Folkes, Cam Bruce, Baillie Batchelor, Sam Anson, Simon Hobbs, Anthony Close, Jye Smith, Scott Carey, Simon Close, Hamish Ellis, Nicholas Pekin.