It's certainly been an interesting few months for Richmond premiership and Redan player Shaun Grigg.
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Grigg has been given the job of resurrecting the Ballarat Football League's senior representative standing.
He will coach the BFL in the AFL Victoria Community Championships next year.
The BFL hierarchy is looking to Grigg to emulate the deeds of Brisbane Lions great Jonathan Brown in the Hampden league.
Brown, who is originally from Warrnambool, has led Hampden to three consecutive wins in the championships - including a 74-point annihilation of Ballarat at Mars Stadium this year.
The loss sparked a reality check for the BFL, with it immediately announcing a review with the aim of regenerating player interest in representative football after many of the competition's best turned their back on the program.
Finding a high profile coach in the mould of Brown was the number one priority.
Brown's presence has reinvigorated interest in inter-league football in the Hampden league, resulting in him getting the cream of the competition's talent on board.
BFL co-chairman Robert Allan said Grigg's appointment was a great outcome, with Grigg fresh out of the AFL and having a close affinity with the Ballarat football community.
He said the panel given the task of finding a new inter-league coach had interviewed seven candidates, all with various AFL experience and ties.
Allan said pleasingly each was in agreeance with the approach the BFL was taking in attempt to get all clubs, senior coaches and players buying into the program.
The BFL, which is hovering at the bottom of the top 10 in championship rankings, wants to return to the top and sees Grigg as the right person to begin that journey.
"We want to set a standard that other leagues want to follow."
READ MORE: BFL launches representative coach search
Grigg, 31, ended his AFL career with Richmond mid-season and made the call to play out the year with Redan, where he played his junior football before being drafted by Carlton.
He has played two games with Redan and is set to have a big role in the Lions' finals campaign.
Allan said one of Grigg's first tasks would be meeting with senior club coaches at the end of the season and getting together of list of prospective representative players from this year's lists.
He also expected to put together a coaching panel before the end of the year.
Allan said it had already been decided that once a squad was in place next season, the program would begin with player bonding sessions and culimnate in no more than two training sessions.
In another move by the BFL to increase its focus on representative football, Dale Murley has been appointed as the inaugural director solely responsible for the inter-league program.
Ballarat's opponent in next year's community championships is still not known.
