HAMPDEN league coach Jonathan Brown knows he will feel more at ease come Saturday when 11 players from last year's side run out to take on Ballarat.
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Two-time Bottle Greens captain Sam Cowling and his 2019 vice-captains Dallas Mooney and Brett Harrington headline the long list of returning faces for this year's AFL Victoria Community Championships match.
Last year's best on ground medal winner Shannon Beks, Fraser Lucas, Ryan O'Connor, Kaine Merkovich, Jarrod Korewha, Jeremy Hausler, Jackson Bell and Liam Hoy will join the trio in representing their league for a second successive season.
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The year before Harrington, Mooney, O'Connor, Bell, Hausler and Adam Wines all played in Brown's first side, which defeated South East at Casey Fields in 2017.
"It is comforting," the third-year mentor said of the returning faces in his final side for Saturday's clash.
"It helps (to build consistency) and these guys are proven performers at this stage and that certainly helps with some guidance and direction around the field and they understand what representative football is all about.
"This sort of footy can be played at a different tempo. It's obviously fast and a very offensive game so it's nice for those veterans to bring that balanced outlook to the game and not just all be one way."
Alex Pulling, Ben Dobson, James Gow, Tom Couch (Koroit), Tom Sullivan, Dan Nicholson (Port Fairy), Darcy Keast, Sam McLachlan (North Warrnambool Eagles), Riley Arnold (Camperdown), Harris Jennings (Portland) and Jye Turland (Warrnambool) will all play their first match under Brown.
The three-time premiership player said he was eager to see who would step up for the Bottle Greens this time around.
"Guys like Shannon Beks, who wasn't in the team until the Thursday night last year, trained himself into the team and ended up winning the best on ground medal," he said. "I look to the young fellas so Harris Jennings from Portland really impressed me on the track. Jye Turland, he is knee-high to a grasshopper but he trained the house down on Tuesday.
"There are a couple of guys that might surprise people. Alex Pulling has been in terrific form for Koroit and he could be leading the best and fairest out there. Riley Arnold gets a crack too.
"I think there is some exciting youngsters on the field. It's nice to see players that were in the squad and missed out in previous years have been able to work their way into the side and get a game."
Brown was disappointed Darren Ewing (hamstring), Dan Waymouth (sore), Sam Dobson (leg) and Liam Youl (face) weren't able to recover from their injuries in time to contend for selection in his best 23 players.
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