Weekly Wrap | There’s certainly been a strong wintery blast across the state during the week with some well needed rain, however spare a thought for the Wy Yung FNC whose home ground was completely inundated after some flooding from the nearby Mitchell River during the week.
Luckily they were scheduled to play an away game at Boisdale Briagolong FNC on the weekend. Hopefully the ground can return to some sort of playable condition in the short term future.
We had another dose of interleague football for the year this weekend when the Hampden FNL took on the Ballarat FNL in what has become somewhat of a new annual tradition post the Covid interrupted seasons of 2020 & 2021. In the main game, which is an Under 23 fixture, it was the Ballarat FNL who were far too strong after a fast start in the first half setting up the 22.15 147 to 9.9 63 victory. The Hampden FNL did however get something out of the event, winning a tight Under 17 boys game 8.6 54 to an inaccurate Ballarat FNL 6.12 48. Hampden were also too strong in the Under 19’s female match, running out comfortable 27 point winners 7.10 52 to 4.1 25.
Next weekend we will see some more interleague action when the Central Murray FNL and Sunraysia FNL go head to head as do the Bendigo FNL who will take on a side from the Victorian Amateurs FA. While up in the north east of the state the Tallangatta and District FNL will do battle with their cross river rivals, the NSW based Hume FNL.
We had an unfortunate scenario where a senior game was called off over the weekend in the Colac and District FNL. The game between Alvie FNC and the Western Eagles FNC was abandoned at quarter time when one of the club trainers had a medical incident that required an ambulance. Under league rules, due to the time taken to attend to the safety of those involved the match was abandoned and both teams will share 2 points.
As with last week, we had another couple of longish losing streaks ended over the weekend. In the Gippsland FNL the long wait to sing the club song for the Drouin FNC is now over after they broke a 20 game run of outs with an 11 point win over the 5th placed Wonthaggi FNC, 13.9 87 to 11.10 76. Down in the Warrnambool and District FNL it was South Rovers FNC also ending a 20 game drought of their own when they had a 13.11 89 to 10.8 68 win over Panmure FNC. Across in the nearby Geelong and District FNL, it was the bottom placed Corio FNC winning for the first time in 10 weeks ,despite kicking a wayward 11.21 87, to hold on in a thriller against Anakie FNC who managed 12.13 85
Bad kicking cost Newstead FNC the four points in their clash against Maldon FNC going down by 1 point, 9.18 72 v 11.7 73, while in another Maryborough Castlemaine District FNL game between Carisbrook FNC and Trentham FNC, it was even closer as neither side could be split at the final siren with both sides locked on 5.6 36 apiece. These games were indicative of the round where across the state there were three 1 point games alongside 2 drawn matches.
This was another big week for the forwards where thirteen of them landed bags of 10 or more goals in games played. Leading the way was Tyrendarra FNC’s Jordi Withers who kicked 16 goals. It’s fair to say he was the main focal point for his side given his team kicked 20.14 134 in their big win against Westerns FNC. In the Mininera and District FNL Lismore Derrinallum FNC’s Lachie Constable managed a haul of 15 in his team's massive 164 point win over Caramut FNC. It was a haul of 12 goals by Cora Lynn FNC’s Nathan Gardiner that saw him surpass the 50 goal mark for the year, alongside six others who also reached the half ton milestone this weekend.
However all the focus for this weekend on the goal licking front was down in the Ellinbank and District FNL where Longwarry FNC’s Jason Wells only needed 1 goal to be the first in the state to reach 100 goals for the 2025 season.
Not only did he achieve the feat in the opening minutes of the game against Catani FNC, he ended the day with a further 8 more to end the day with 9 next to his name and a current total of 108. This sits him 20 above second placed on the list, former AFL Roo and Blue Aaron Mullett ,who now has 88 for Wandin FNC while a bag of 10 from Neerim South FNC’s Mason McGarrity moves him to third with 85, 6 ahead of ex Demon Michael Newtown from Whorouly FNC with 79 in fourth place.
