Weekly Wrap | It’s taken 4 weeks but finally we have all AFL Victorian football and netball leagues in action for the first time in the 2023 season on the weekend.
Several leagues are taking advantage of the upcoming ANZAC Day public holiday this Tuesday by scheduling matches. Games will be taking place in the Geelong, Hampden, Ovens & Murray, Riddell and District and Western Border FNL’s. With warm weather forecast, it looks like a great day for local communities to come together, commemorating the significance of this special day and then witnessing some great local footy action.
Onto this week's action and there is nothing we like better than celebrating a club that has broken a long standing winning drought. In the Central Highlands FNL it was Carngham Linton FNC who sang the song for the first time in 1393 days when they won a close fought game against Skipton, prevailing by 4 points 10.8 (68) to 9.10 (64). Former Essendon FC player Nick O’Brien helped the Saints come from behind in the last quarter to register their first win since the 2019 season. Another former Bomber, Jackson Merrett, made his coaching debut this week in the Ballarat FNL and started with a first up win when his East Point FNC dominated and ran out with a 148 point win over Melton South FNC, 29.18 192 to 6.8 44.
In the Ovens and Murray FNL it was time for the highly anticipated grand final rematch between Wangaratta Magpies FNC and Yarrawonga FNC. As widely reported, Wangaratta had been stripped of its 2022 premiership for breaching the salary cap, as well as being sanctioned financially and having reduced player points for the upcoming season. Another penalty was not being able to gain 2023 premiership points for the first two games, meaning this week was the first chance for the Magpies to gain 4 points, adding to the intrigue of the match. After jumping out of the blocks and leading by 17 points at quarter time, the Magpies were eventually overrun by the Pigeons who ran out 31 point winners. This now leaves last year's premiers winless after the first 3 rounds.
Unfortunately the run of draws has come to an end this weekend, although there were a couple of close 1 point thrillers. In the Ovens and King FNL it was North Wangaratta holding on by the barest of margins against Whorouly winning 8.9 57 to 8.8 56. Not for the first time this year inaccurate kicking has cost a side the 4 points in a close game, this time it was Nyah Nyah West struggling in front of goals kicking a wayward 8.16 64 to lose their Central Murray FNL clash with Lake Boga who managed 9.11 65.
This weekend saw a couple a of new leaders for the biggest score of the season so far, with Mitta United FNC in the Tallangatta & District FNL scoring a massive 40.26 266 in their game against Wahgunyah FNC, while in the Picola & District FNL it was Jerilderie FNC piling in 41.17 263 against Yarroweyah FNC. A total of 9 sides kicked scores of over 200 points in matches this weekend, pushing the weekly average winning margin across the state out to 54.54 points.
Given the large scores there was bound to be a few big bags of goals kicked over the weekend. There were 11 forwards across the state who managed hauls of 10 or more goals, with none bigger than the 19 snagged by Mitchell Conlan from Jerilderie FNC or the 16 kicked by MItta United FNC’s Ethan Redcliffe in the matches mentioned above. Overall Redcliffe leads the state with 33 goals, followed by Conlan on 26 and 3 others on 23: Greta FNC’s Frazer Judd, Congupna FNC’s Daniel Schaper and Chris Wangman from Churchill FNC.
