Weekly Wrap | The Easter weekend provided fantastic weather for all those who got out and about to watch some great games of country footy, with reports of big crowds around the regions.
There would have been no bigger crowd than in the Castlemaine FNC rooms after their Bendigo FNL clash with Maryborough FNC as they celebrated not only a 50 point win, but their first win for 1462 days.
Despite there being fewer games being played due to the holiday break, this weekend provided its fair share of interest, with player registration and point system being at the center of the weekend's two biggest stories.
Echuca FNC in the Goulburn Valley FNL fell foul of the new football online system being implemented this year, when they discovered that the new system had inadvertently allowed them to name players who were not officially cleared to them before last week's games. After self-reporting to Goulburn Valley Football Netball League officials, Echuca were stripped of their match points from both the big wins their Senior and Reserves had in their round 1 games.
In their official statement, Echuca FNC said “ The decision handed down to the club is disappointing and the club will be considering all of the available options in these unusual circumstances. The two players involved were new players to the club and both players were registered Echuca FNC players. In fact both players were noted on the team sheets for each game. Historically a player could not be registered on a team sheet unless a clearance had been granted. Both players were registered Echuca Football Netball Club players. Our presumption was that they had been cleared to play because there was no system restriction on the PlayHQ system of them being entered on the team sheet.”
Despite the lost points, it didn’t impact their performance for their match against Euroa FNC where they ran out 43 point winners.
In another Goulburn Valley FNL match, former Magpie and Giant Heath Shaw had planned to don the red, white and black of the Benalla Saints in a one off game to help support the struggling club. However it was discovered that Shaw, who is currently playing with East Keilor in the Essendon District FL, would have attracted an additional point when being transferred back to his original club. Unfortunately this would mean that East Keilor would be over their prescribed points for games that Shaw would play further into the season. Discussions between the EDFL and AFL could not come to a conclusion under the current points system that would allow Shaw to play. Despite this, Shaw did make the trip to support Benalla as a runner in their game against Tatura. Unfortunately it would not be enough as the Saints fell to the Bulldogs by a single point, 11.8 74 v 10.15 75.
This close game would be one of 3 games separated by just one point. In the Heathcote and District FNL, poor kicking cost Huntly FNC as they were inaccurate with 11.17 83 to Leitchville Gunbower 13.6 84. In the other close one, Drysdale scored 12.10 82 to run out winners by the barest of magains against Queenscliff FNC’s 12.9 81. For the second week in a row another draw took place with Dromana and Red Hill in the Mornington Peninsula Nepean FNL fighting it out in a thriller and were unable to be seperated at the final siren, with 7.7 49 apiece.
For the close games, there were again some big scores across all leagues, highlighted by an average winning margin of 59 points across all games played over the Easter Weekend. The biggest score and win was again this week at the expense of Wahgunyah FNC in the Tallangatta & District FNL, where this week they were on the end of a 221 point loss to neighbours Rutherglen FNC who kicked 34.34 228 to Wahgunyah 1.1 7. In the Bellarine FNL, Torquay FNC kicked 30.26 206 to be 198 point winners against Portarlington while in the battle of long standing fierce Murray FNL rivals Cobram FNC and Barooga FNC, it was Cobram kicking 32.13 205 to run out victors by 178 points..
These big scores saw two forwards make the most of their opportunities with Rutherglen’s Michael Cooper and Cobram’s Darcy Pridham-McCormack both leading all goal kickers this weekend with 10 goals each in their clubs massive wins.
