The Weekly Wrap | Another week into the season and unfortunately we had another club having to withdraw an underage side.
This time it was the Elmore FNC in the Heathcote and District FNL who have made the decision to no longer be able to field its Thirds side for the rest of the year. The week also saw our first senior forfeit for the season when the Dennington FNC in the Warrnambool and District FNL, who so far have been on the end of a combined 1111 point losses over the first four rounds, were unable to field side for their match against Kolora Noorat FNC.
Two weeks after Gormandale FNC broke their 63 game losing streak, the new leaders in this space, Campbells Creek FNC in the Maryborough Castlemaine District FNL ended their 55 run of outs with a 6 point win over Avoca FNC 9.10 64 to 8.10 58. It was a nervous last quarter for Magpies who led by 23 points at three quarter time but only managed to kick four points while the Bulldogs kicked 3.3 to almost pinch the win.
It was a weekend for losing streaks coming to an end with Paynesville FNC in the East Gippsland FNL singing the song for the first time since June 2024 with a 49 point win over Stratford FNC, with former Magpie Dane Swan helping end the 23 game run of losses. In the Horsham and District FNL Edenhope Apsley FNC ended a run of 19 defeats with a 13.9 87 to 10.5 65 win over Swifts FNC, while Tyntynder FNC won for the first time in 12 games with a 56 point win over Murrabit FNC. Tatura FNC in the Goulburn Valley FNL now holds the longest active losing streak title with 39 after a 32 point loss to Benalla FNC.
In celebratory news, this weekend saw the Hay FNC celebrate their 150 year anniversary. The club who are now competing in the Central Murray FNL after the end of the Golden Rivers FNL in 2025, are officially the oldest football club in New South Wales forming on May 24th 1876, only ten days before the first football club in Albury started. The Lions were the last ever Golden Rivers premiers and capped off a memorable day when they defeated Ultima FNC in last season's Grand Final rematch by a solitary point, 15.13 103 to 16.6 102.
It was a weekend for 1 point margins with a total of 5 games across the state divided by the barest of margins. In the Bendigo FNL an inaccurate Gisborne FNC managed to hold on against Castlemaine FNC winning 8.20 68 to 9.13 67, while in the Mid Gippsland FNL Stoney Creek FNC had their first win for the season overcoming MDU FNC 11.7 73 to 11.6 72. Frankston YCW FNC and Melton South FNC also ended the weekend as winners by just a solitary point.
On the scoring front it was another weekend where we saw over thirty 100+ point winning margins, including four over 200 points. For the third week in a row, the Upper Murray FNL had an average winning margin of over 1 hundred points and for the third round out of the past four, the Outer East FNL Division 1 had an average round winning margin of over 100 points, with the past two rounds over 130 points. At the other end of the scale, it was the second week in a row that the Sunraysia FNC has the smallest average winning margin and they head all comers so far as the most competitive league in country Victoria so far this season, with an average winning margin of just 22 points per round.
Former Magpie Leon Davis showed that he still has it when 6 kicked goals for Heywood FNC in their South West District FNC clash against Westerns, 14.12.96 to 8.7 55. However we was outdone by former Richmond FC player Callum Moore who booted fifteen goals for Diggers Rest FNC in their massive 179 point win over the Gisborne Giants FNC, 33.18 216 to 5.7 37, which was the biggest 2nd biggest score of the round behind Sea Lake Nandaly FNC who managed a 38.22 250 to 2.2 14 win over Donald FNC in the North Central FNL.
Behind Moore’s haul of 15, Ben Hall from Cudgewa FNC kicked 14 in his side's big win over Corryong FNC in the Upper Murray FNL while Max Cahoon snared a dozen for Sea Lake Nandaly FNC in their huge win. Keenan Hughes from Cowwarr FNC and Nathan Power from Belgrave FNC both kicked 11 goals apiece and rounded out the lists of forwards who snagged double digit bags of goals.
Overall we have dual leaders as the top of the leaderboard with Allansford FNC’s Robbie Hare and Whorouly FNC’s Michael Newton both locked on 38 goals, Close behind in third place with 37 majors is Kiewa Sandy Creek FNC’s Guy Telford while Tim Rinaldi from Carisbrook FNC on 34 and Greta FNC’s Harry Moran with 32 round out the top 5 places.
