Weekly Wrap | Last week we left you on a knife's edge in regard to the result of the Geelong and District FNL 1 point result between the Belmont Lions FNC and Bell Post Hill FNC.
The match finished with the score showing a 19.7 121 to 18.12 120 win to the Belmont Lions. This was then disputed by Bell Post Hill FNC who had evidence via Premier Data match coding that showed the results should have been a four point win to Bell Post Hill FNC 18.11 119 to 18.7 115. At the time of writing last week, this had been referred to the league. We can share that after the league investigation the original result was overturned and the match awarded to Bell Post Hill FNC.
Despite the sun being out and about this weekend, the cold and wet blasts over the previous weeks caused some concerns for local grounds and in the case of the Goulburn Valley FNL, it meant Echuca FNC had to shift their home game against Shepparton FNC to the other end of town and play at the home of Murray FNL club Echuca United. The shift paid dividends for the visitors who managed to come away with a 19 point win in the rematch of the 2024 Grand Final.
The combination of the last few home and way rounds as well as the warmish winter weather also made for some high scoring matches across the state .This meant we ended up with this week’s combined weekly average winning being the largest for the season to date. Across all matches the average winning margin was 71.19 points, 9 points more than the previous highest which was 62.05 all the way back in early May. Contributing to this was 27 of the states 41 leagues having at least one 100+ point win out of their weekend rounds of games.
In total there were thirty games with winning margins of more than 100 points, thirteen victories by more than 150 points and six games where the winner won by over 200 points. Wy Yung FNC kicked the round's biggest score with a 37.20 242 point tally over Paynesville FNC in the East Gippsland FNL. Seven leagues all had their average winning margin at over 100 points for the round as well.
This weekend also saw the first league complete its home and away season for 2025. The four team Upper Murray FNL enters the finals next week, which sees the anomaly of Corryong FNC who despite going winless for the season, will still be playing off in the finals series. It will be a tough task as they will face ladder leaders Bullioh FNC in the finals who ran out 210 point winners, 32.26 218 to 1.2 8 in their match on Saturday.
Also as we creep closer to finals each week more and more teams are locking away a place for the upcoming finals. This was true for Longwood FNC who after a 66 point win over Avenel FNC in the Kyabram and District FNL, secured a finals appearance for the very first time since joining the league in 2010, moving across from the Benalla and District FNL after it folded at the end of the 2009 season.
As with the last few weeks, we’ve had another couple of streaks come to an end. In Division 2 of the Mornington Peninsula Nepean FNL, fourth placed Crib Point FNC claimed a thrilling come from behind 1 point win over the previously undefeated Frankston Bombers FNC, ending their 15 match run of consecutive wins. In the Sunraysia FNL it was a 12 game streak of wins that ended for Mildura FNC when they went down 13.15 93 to 4.18 42 to potential finals rivals Robinvale Euston FNC who currently sit in second place.
With the big scores and high average winning margin, it was no surprise that a few forwards had days out. There were a staggering eighteen players who kicked 10 or more goals in games completed over the weekend, headlined by not one, but two hauls of 19, one by Milawa FNC’s Brady Bartlett and the other by Barnawartha FNC’s Oscar Willding. As with last week there was an AFL flavour to the group with ex Docker Josh Mellington kicking a second consecutive double digit bag with 11 for Bears Lagoon Serpentine FNC, as did ex Demon Michael Newton who kicked 10 for Whorouly FNC alongside former Port Adelaide player Brett Eddy, who kicked 10 for Pearcedale FNC.
That haul of 10 from Newton meant he was able to bring up his 100th goal for the season, currently sitting with a total of 109 and second place on the overall table, trailing Jason Wells from Longwarry FNC who kicked another 6 this weekend to move out to 122. The big mover this week was our early season leader, Birchip Watchem FNC’s Ben Edwards, who kicked 10 in the first half to bring up his 100, finishing with 15 goals for the match and a total of 105 so far for the season. A further 7 forwards are in prime position to reach triple figures during this weekend's round of games, while Cudgewa FNC’s John Spencer will need a couple of finals games to reach the 100 milestone after finishing the Upper Murray FNL home and away season on 95.
