For the second time this year, football and netball leagues and clubs from across country Victoria have had to work feverishly after the lifting of a statewide lockdown to try and keep their 2021 seasons active. The ongoing challenge of not being able to have crowds in attendance was enough for some leagues to wait another week before attempting a resumption of play, however 18 leagues did manage to get a restart across the weekend.
Even for those leagues who were able to get going, there were still some unique challenges for several clubs and leagues. In the North Central FNL who resumed play, the Wycheproof Narraport FNC committee had to make the tough decision and voted not play their game against Sea Lake Nandaly FNC, until crowds are allowed to attend, which lead to a rare forfeit at senior level. This may also have implications for next week depending on any changes of the statewide Covid-19 guidelines.
For the cross border Picola and District FNL, the dual set of restrictions from both the NSW and Victorian governments meant a logistical nightmare and led to a last minute cancellation of the game between Victorian based Tungamah FNC and the NSW based Jerilderie FNC. The game was scheduled to be played at Berrigan in NSW, however the afternoon before the game, the Berrigan Shire vetoed the use of the ground for the match, meaning the game was cancelled and the four points were shared by both clubs.
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This 2021 season has seen some long standing club winless streaks come to an end and there was another one over the weekend, this time in the Geelong FNL. North Shore FNC snapped a 27-game losing streak with a 40-point win over St Albans FNC. The last time the Seagulls got to sing their song was after their last win, way back in Round 18 2018, which was also at the expense of the Supersaints. At the other end of the ledger in the Goulburn Valley FNL, it was Mansfield FNC ending the unbeaten streak of the Seymour FNC. Mansfield, sitting in eighth place before the match, stunned the ladder leaders to win by an impressive 45 points and by doing so now see themselves in fifth place on the ladder.
Despite the layoff, it didn’t take long for some teams to get back into the swing of things, especially in the aforementioned Picola and District FNL where Picola United FNC were the biggest winners from the weekend, amassing a big 261-point win over Blighty FNC. In the 42.21-273 to 2.0-12 win, Ben Gill was the standout for Picola United with 10 majors. Whilst impressive, it didn’t match the 16 goals kicked by Hepburn FNC’s Samual Dunstan in the Central Highlands FNL match as the Burras cruised to a 175 point win over Ballan FNC. This haul takes Dunstan to third overall for senior goal kickers in Victoria for the season with 73 goals, still trailing Violet Town FNC’s Josh Mellington who sits on top of the table with 110. Congratulations too for Camperdown FNC’s Samuel Gordon, Brent Jacques from Belmont FNC and Lucas Anderson from Torquay who all managed to reach the 50 goal mark for the season.
Keep up to date each week with all scores, ladders, stats and more at countryfootyscores.com | Season stats here | Goal kicking lists here
