Feeling on top of world

TORQUAY star Billy Barnes believes it is only a matter of time before the BFL regains its status as one of the top leagues in the state.

Turning the tables on Wimmera, a side that downed the BFL just three years ago, Barnes is confident his team is on the up.

He praised the work of coach Mark Hildebrandt, who has created a strong culture and a greater “buy-in” from the players.

“It’s starting a bit of a trend,” Barnes said.

“There’s the old saying, ‘Build it and they will come’, and the way that Mark and AFL Barwon have gone about it in the last couple of years, more and more players will put up their hands.

“Over the last couple of years there seems to be a trend of quality players coming to play. I played a couple of years ago when Wimmera beat us and it’s a remarkable change from then to now.

“There’s so many guys who are proud to pull on the jumper and be a part of it. I can only see us going onwards and upwards from here.

“I’m already looking forward to next year. Climbing the ranks is only going to get harder and harder, but with the quality we’ve got in the BFL, I don’t think the ranking does us justice.

“We’re a top 10 league, I feel, and it will be good to climb closer and closer towards the top 10 and breakthrough and eventually hold our spot.”

Barnes, one of the BFL’s best at Horsham City Oval, was proud of his team’s performance. The strong showing was also important after the BFL was denied a match last year when Sunraysia pulled out, citing the high costs of sending a team to Ocean Grove.

“It was a fantastic win. There’s a lot of skilful players from a range of different teams, so it was good to put it to the test,” he said.

“The group came together well. Surprisingly, we only had five or six training sessions together, but it didn’t really matter because once we were out there we were doing all the small things.

“Blocks were put on, players were running to the right spots and it was fantastic. It was a really good experience.”