Excitement is building ahead of this Saturday\u2019s Big V Double-header against the Adelaide Football League at Norwood Oval.<\/p>\n
The Adelaide Footy League (formerly known as the South Australian Amateur Football League) boasts a proud 115-year history, and, like the VAFA, is one of the game\u2019s largest leagues with a long list of champion players.<\/p>\n
The VAFA and SAAFL first met at the MCG in 1925 in what was the Big V\u2019s first-ever appearance, and 101 years later, the Victoria-South Australia rivalry will burn as fiercely as ever.<\/p>\n
The Big V Senior Women and Big V Senior Men will tackle the Croweaters for the first time since 2018 and are raring to go after a five-week training program.<\/p>\n
Part 1 of the double-header will kick off on Saturday from 2.30pm Eastern with the Big V Women in action LIVE & FREE RIGHT HERE on VAFA.com.au.<\/p>\n
The team will run out with a perfect 6-0 record, including a 37-point victory over the Adelaide Footy League in their only meeting in 2018, and will be determined to continue their unbeaten streak against all comers.<\/p>\n
Led by triple St Kevin\u2019s premiership coach Tom Purcell, the team is stacked with a combination of established guns and rising stars.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe talent in the VAFA is so strong,\u201d Purcell told the VAFA podcast \u2018For the Love of the Game.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cOn Saturday, we can show off their skills, and how far the game\u2019s progressed with speed, and their ability, their endurance, their decision-making.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce you see that Big V sash and understand what the jumper means \u2013 you\u2019re actually playing for Victoria, and the privilege that is, and the history and the tradition and the culture that the game has, and the opportunity that they have, and the support they get from their families, their parents, their friends, their club.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo think that they\u2019re gonna be running out and wearing that \u2013 the sense of camaraderie just ignites.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll be a Big V Express, and they\u2019ll be as close and as bound as they would be on any Saturday, and they\u2019ll give everything for our state.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a Victorian. I love Victoria. I love everything about it, and football is a huge part of that. And the Big V and the VAFA history is a big part of being Victorian. So it means a lot to me. It\u2019s hard to put in words, but it\u2019s just part of your DNA.\u201d<\/p>\n
Part 2 of the double-header will see the Big V Men tackling Adelaide Football League from 4.30pm Eastern, LIVE & FREE on VAFA.com.au.<\/p>\n
The VAFA has won 8 of the last 9 meetings between the two teams since 1995, with the South Australians\u2019 only win in that time coming at Trevor Barker Oval in 2016.<\/p>\n
But after back-to-back losses to the Perth Football League, the Big V Men will be desperate to avoid three consecutive defeats for the first time in 40 years.<\/p>\n
Daniel Harford will reprise his role as Big V Men\u2019s coach after taking the job in 2025 and is looking forward to the chance to travel and bond with his team for an away game.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt gets to that point in the preparation where you\u2019re just almost waiting for Saturday,\u201d Harford told \u2018For the Love of the Game.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve done a bit of work in the last month or so refining this squad, getting it all together, trying to create some chemistry and connection.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harford is drawing upon lessons he learned during last year\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main thing I picked up was the desire and the intent from the players. Once they\u2019re in, they\u2019re all in, and being able to really harness that, and embrace that, and use that as a bit of a force to galvanise the whole crew all the way through, and then hopefully have that reflected on game day.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe standard of the footy was ridiculous. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve coached a better game or been involved in a better game of footy than we played last year against Perth, albeit going down by that goal.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the standard of footy was a real eye-opener for me when it all comes together, and you get the best of the best together.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019ve done this year is understand a bit more about the requirements at this level \u2013 certainly for me, from a team composition perspective. It gave me a philosophy on how I want to play the game, and then picking the right players to fit it.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, it\u2019s not necessarily pick a squad and build a game around them. It\u2019s build a game and then pick the squad around that.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not necessarily just the best 22 players. It\u2019s the players that will be best in the roles that we need them to be in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harford noted that the Croweaters haven\u2019t revealed their squad.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re giving us nothing, and that\u2019s okay,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got some guys over there in South Australia who helped us a little bit with some of the guys that they know are in the squad, and some of their traits. But largely we go in flying a little bit blind to the opposition, which I don\u2019t necessarily mind. We want to focus on us for the majority of the contest anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
The unusual dimensions of Norwood Oval, which is approximately 15 metres longer and 15 metres narrower than Elsternwick Park, has also been on Harford\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt does require a bit more capacity to be good in contest, because there\u2019s not as much space, wing to wing. The game\u2019s going to be played in contests a little bit, but you also need to be able to lengthen and stretch the ground when required as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m incredibly privileged to be able to do it again, and that\u2019s not lost on me. So, looking forward to it, hopefully we get the job done, we bring a trophy home and represent the Big V with great pride.\u201d<\/p>\n
BIG V vs ADELAIDE FOOTBALL LEAGUE:<\/p>\n
SATURDAY JUNE 6 \u2013 Norwood Oval, Adelaide<\/p>\n
2.30pm Eastern \u2013 Big V Senior Women<\/p>\n
4.30pm Easterm -Big V Senior Men<\/p>\n
Both games LIVE & FREE ABOVE from 2.30pm Eastern.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Excitement is building ahead of this Saturday\u2019s Big V Double-header against the Adelaide Football League at Norwood Oval.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25296,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[395,8668],"class_list":["post-25295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-adelaide","tag-adelaide","tag-app"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}