Chintin’s Ben Jankovski has earnt All-Australian honours following his performance at the Wheelchair AFL National Championships last week.
Jankovski, who joined Wallan’s Adam Georgelin in the Victoria Country side, said he did not expect the All-Australian honour.
“It’s one of the biggest achievements that I’ve made in my football career so far. It’s something I’ve never thought I’d really be acknowledged for,” Jankovski said.
“It just comes down to my hard work and effort I’ve put in over the years.”
Jankovski and Georgelin went head-to-head with Australia’s best wheelchair footballers to secure Victoria Country fourth place in division one of the competition.
Heated matches took place at the State Netball and Hockey Centre at Parkville, where five players from each team play on basketball courts.
Players handball instead of kicking the football, underarm throw instead of handballing and score by handballing through smaller versions of AFL goalposts.
Nine teams competed in the championships’s 15-minute games to determine divisions in the competition.
Jankovski, Vic Country’s vice-captain, said the pressure to secure a place in the prized division one was ’quite daunting’.
But the fear was put to rest after his team won against South Australia in its last game to cement a spot in the top competition, which Jankovski described as a ‘really big achievement’.
In the first round, Vic Country scored a convincing 90-21 win over Queensland.
But round two snapped the team back to a harsh reality, defeated by South Australia 69 to 35.
With one win and one loss, Vic Country next defeated its Victorian counterparts Vic Metro – which went on to win the grand final – in a close 34-39 match.
Desperate to prove themselves deserving of a medal, Vic Country struggled against a fierce Western Australian side, going down 65-45.
In the play-off for third place against South Australia, Vic Country scored two goals in the first minute of the action but could not contain powerhouse Jamie Smyth who dominated play with four goals in the first quarter.
Georgelin solidified himself as a critical player, with the Essendon player slowing the speed of play to assess the best moves forward.
Jankovski’s agility and ability to move to the ball pushed Vic Country to make a scoreboard impact, but it wasn’t enough to keep South Australia at bay.
A huge 53-point third quarter by South Australia was the pivotal point of the game, keeping Vic Country from the coveted bronze medal.
Vic Country fought out the match and scored 22 points in the final quarter but eventually went down by 54 points, the final score 128 to 74.
“They lifted their game a little bit more and became more offensively attacking, put a little bit more pressure on us and we weren’t able to hold on for the four quarters, unfortunately,” Jankovski said.
“Obviously, we’re really, really proud of our efforts. Top four is great finish.”
Watch the final match between Vic Country and South Australia on Kayo here from 1:25:00.
Also captain of the Collingwood Wheelchair AFL team, Jankovski acknowledged and congratulated his Collingwood teammates for their efforts in the tournament.
Jankovski and Georgelin will take a break before returning to play for Wheelchair AFL next season.
