Brent Prismall speaks from experience of the benefits of a stand-alone VFL team and the 27-year-old is eager to play a role in the Footscray Bulldogs inaugural year in the VFL.

Spending time on both Geelong and Essendon’s playing list, the current Bulldogs Player Wellbeing Coordinator has witnessed first-hand just how valuable a stand-alone VFL team can be.

Whether honing his craft early in his career or pressing for senior selection, the midfielder credits the challenging opponents in the VFL seniors every week for his ongoing development. 

“From when I was playing at Geelong and Essendon… it was great because you would play in the VFL seniors each week and you knew you would play on a quality player,” Prismall said.

“I was playing on blokes like Mark Coughlan and Nathan Foley each week and you get to learn the traits off these guys who have played 100 or 150 games of AFL when you are only just starting out.

“I think it is going to be fantastic for the majority of the [Bulldogs] list that they do get to play at a high level each week.”

Watching the VFL side evolve both from an administration point of view through his role at the Club and as one of Footscray’s inaugural players, Prismall has already seen the advantages begin to show.

“I think it’s an interesting sort of concept when a club is formed from scratch,” he said.

“A lot of the guys have come in good attitudes and I’m just really looking forward to the season starting now.”

Prismall has already seen some familiar faces return to the Club and said both Lukas Markovic and Nick Lower have excelled in their roles as experienced heads among the young group.

“Lukas Markovic and Nick Lower obviously played here and had a big impact off the field as well as on the field and they are doing the same thing in the VFL,” he said.

“They’ve got AFL experience behind them and… they have been great at teaching [the younger players] how we want to play, how we want to move the ball and how we prepare as well off the field.

“I can’t speak highly enough of those guys, it’s good that we’ve got such great characters in the two of them as well.”