By JARROD POTTER
FROM wondering about his chances of Noble Park selection to pulling on an interleague jumper for second-ranked Eastern Football League … it’s been a whirlwind start to 2016 already for Ben Giobbi.
Giobbi, 20, from Narre Warren, is in the midst of an amazing rise up the ranks as a cracking start to life in the blue and gold saw the fleet-footed midfielder earn more than just a Bulls’ senior jumper.
His hard-edged approach through the Bulls’ centre and defence earned him a ticket to Simonds Stadium to battle the number one ranked side – Geelong Football League – in the AFL Victoria Community Championships number one clash.
It wasn’t meant to be in the top showdown for Eastern against Geelong, downed 9.10 (64) to 13.10 (88), despite a late fightback giving Eastern fans some hope.
The marquee interleague belonged to Geelong, who showed a little too much class as former Port Adelaide/Geelong forward Jason Davenport (four goals) booted the number 1 seeds ahead and that’s where the scoreboard would stay.
Earning second best on field, behind Norwood’s Stuart Hill, Giobbi took away plenty from the biggest clash on his football resume.
“I enjoyed it – I was pretty proud of myself to be picked out,” Giobbio said. “I thought I was going to be on the fringe at Noble in the first place, so it’s obviously a big step up from playing local footy.
“They were pretty strong and had their game plan pretty set – seemed like they trained together for a while and had a bit of an edge on us.”
Roaming half-back before he was thrown in the middle when the match was on the line, Giobbi impressed the EFL coaching staff in the gutsy 24-point loss as Eastern now sets its sights on the third-versus-fourth clash next year against Essendon District.
“It was a big deck – bit dewy all day which was a little strange … but playing in the stadium was great,” Giobbi said. “I was pretty nervous at the start and nervous before the game and in the first quarter, but as soon as I took a few grabs and started to find my feet a bit, I found it was alright once I got a hang of it.
“It was good to get out there and meet the players from other teams and play at the highest level of footy I’ve ever played – good to mix in with the players from the other teams and the other league.”
Leaving the Magpies was a tough decision that Giobbi knew he had to take to improve his footy and make the step up mentally to push himself further.
“I just felt like I needed to challenge myself – playing at Narre Warren and in the period I played there they were a dominant side and I didn’t really have to try as hard I guess,” Giobbi said. “I wanted to go somewhere where I’d have to test myself – I thought I was going to be a fringe player at Noble Park.
“I really like it there – it’s obviously a lot different to Narre, but it’s a great club and the boys all got around me when I first got there, so it’s good.”
From racking up touches at Noble Park, Giobbi isn’t sure where the football path will take him.
Whether the VFL or beyond is something he’s looking towards, but for the moment he wants to get stuck back into life at the Bullring and help the side find some form after a hot-and-cold start to the season marred by injury.
“We’ve been struck by a fair bit of injury, so we’re hopefully getting a few back through the twos and some straight into the ones,” Giobbi said. “Once we get a few of the good players back hopefully, we can find some form again before we face Balwyn and Vermont and sides like that.”
Noble Park travels to face East Ringwood on Saturday.
AFL COMMUNITY CHAMPIONSHIPS – 1 v 2
GEELONG FNL 4.3 6.5 10.6 13.10 (88)
EASTERN FOOTBALL LEAGUE 2.2 4.4 6.7 9.10 (64)
GEELONG FNL Goals: J. Davenport 4, A. Donohue 2, B. Howarth 2, J. Young 2, S. Close, C. Moreland, J. Erskine. Best: C. Floyd, M. McMahon, J. Young, P. Hinkley, J. Davenport, C. Moreland. EASTERN FOOTBALL LEAGUE Goals: D. Cooper 2, D. Hughes, M. Bate, J. Gobbels, C. Manuel, D. Limbach, J. Meesen. Best: S. Hill, B. Giobbi, J. Meesen, L. Carey, D. Hughes, J. Van Unen.
