North Ballarat news

FitzGerald rushed to his players - addressing and embracing them.

And then with misty eyes, stood back and applauded his young outfit as it left the ground.

FitzGerald said the 35-point win over the previously unbeaten Sandringham meant the competition held no fears for the Selkirk Roosters.

"This has opened up the year (for us)."

Up until the 18.15 (123) to Sandringham 13.10 (88) triumph, seventh-placed North Ballarat had struggled against teams at the business end of the ladder with losses to Geelong (top), Coburg (fourth) and Northern Bullants (sixth).

The Zebras are unbeaten in their quest for four consecutive premierships, a feat only ever achieved once in VFA/VFL history by Essendon in 1891-92-93-94.

And in this age of AFL alignments North Ballarat coach Gerard FitzGerald has no doubt what the key to Sandringham's success has been and continues to be - a strong VFL list.

The Zebras have enjoyed a great relationship with Melbourne, but their ability to maintain an experienced list is the biggest factor.

Sandringham has seven players with more than 50 VFL games, led by champion full forward Nick Sautner, who celebrates his 200th milestone against North Ballarat at AUSTAR Arena today.

In comparison, the Selkirk Roosters have only five in this category out on the ground today: Shaune Moloney, Tristan Cartledge, Aaron Clark, Jacob Spolding and Leigh Ryall, who plays his first senior game for the year.

If North Ballarat is to cause the upset of the season and stop Sandringham in its tracks, it has three major assignments which must be completed successfully.

1-The Roosters must shutdown the Zebra midfield.

2-Shaune Moloney has to keep Nick Sautner to a maximum of five goals.

3-Melbourne Demons hard man Byron Pickett must be nullified.

Schwab said with some AFL clubs wanting to return of an AFL reserves competition, the survival of the Victorian Football League was far from secure.

Schwab said AFL Victoria wanted the VFL to retain its status, but admitted it would not be without change - a view shared by the Roosters.

"The biggest issue Victorian football has got at the moment is the second tier review," Schwab explained.

"The VFL is under extreme pressure because the AFL clubs are looking at whether they should revamp the reserves competition," he said.

"That decision will have huge ramifications, not only for the VFL, but for how they restructure the TAC Cup (under-18) system as well.

"AFL clubs want total control of their players and the only way they believe they can get that control is if they run their own team.

But Roosters chief executive officer Mark Patterson has no idea to what extent or what shape they might take.

"I wouldn't be surprised," he replied when asked whether he believed the VFL would undergo some form of restructure.

"Everything is in the mix.

"There are various models likely to be considered."

An AFL delegation will meet North Ballarat on Tuesday, May 29, as part of a review into the VFL.

Mr Patterson said the Roosters were still to finalise their presentation for the talks in Ballarat with AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou's assistant Tony Peek, AFL national development general manager David Matthews and AFL strategic planning manager Sam Graham.

The AFL announced in March it would review the second tier of the sport, with a suggestion some AFL clubs wanted to return to stand alone "reserves" rather than being part of alignments with VFL teams.

North Ballarat had more of the football than Werribee and yet was still crushed by 100 points.

That is the way it happened for the Selkirk Roosters in their forgettable Victorian Football League round five assignment on Sunday.

For coach Gerard FitzGerald, this statistic added to an already frustrating outcome as North Ballarat slipped to two wins and three losses.

But it should make the problems which led to the hiding easier to fix.

Well, in theory anyway.

Efficiency is always a focus for FitzGerald and this is where the Roosters must pick-up against Port Melbourne at Port Melbourne today.