WE are halfway through the football and netball season, which gives clubs the opportunity to sit down over the King’s Birthday holiday and assess where they are at. Let’s take a look at how our local clubs have fared so far this season.
BENDIGO FNL
BROADFORD
While Broadford are yet to claim a win in any of the football or netball games they have participated in as of yet in the Bendigo Football Netball League, just getting teams on the park regularly has been a success.
After all, clubs have to start from somewhere.
While many of the Kangaroos’ games have seen big margins on the scoreboard, there has been some improvement that has been identified by Nathan Thompson’s men. In round four, the Kangaroos managed to kick nine goals in a 93-point loss to Kangaroo Flat, its best result so far.
Louis Thompson, Taiten Thomas and Adam Miles have been named in the best on five occasions each, while Jaiden Magor and Isaac Smithwick have each kicked three goals apiece.
On the netball court, there have been similar battles to stay competitive, with the closest result for the Roos A-grade team a 37-goal loss to Golden Square. B-grade, however, secured its first win on the weekend over Castlemaine, its first win in the Bendigo league.
GOULBURN VALLEY FNL
SEYMOUR
The Lions are very much a premiership threat and look good money to secure a spot in the top six given results so far, despite dropping a game against ninth-placed Mooroopna recently.
A clear highlight was the week before, where Seymour demolished the high-flying Echuca after quarter time in one of its best wins for some time, while the Lions were also impressive in defeating Mansfield in round three away from home.
The Lions have had a number of star performers. New recruit Jaron Murphy has slotted in brilliantly from Whittlesea, kicking 19 goals in eight games and named in the best six times. Huw Jones and Nicholas Quigg have been reliable as ever, while Riley Mason, spearheading the forward line full-time this season, leads the competition with 34 goals in nine games.
On the netball court, Seymour sit just inside the top six in A-grade.
NORTHERN FNL
KILMORE
Kilmore’s men’s are in a fierce battle to snare arguably the one spot that is available to it in the division three competition.
Runaway leaders Ivanhoe, Laurimar and Mernda look likely to take each of the top three spots, with Watsonia a further game behind. That leaves a logjam between Reservoir, Epping, Kilmore and Old Eltham Collegians, with Heidelberg West one game further back. They have defeated Epping and Old Eltham away from home but lost to Heidelberg West at home.
Sadly, 2026 coach Corey McCall departed after the Epping win due to personal health reasons, with Mick Marrett taking over as head coach for the remainder of the season.
A number of younger players are making their mark on the team, such as Mitchell O’Dwyer, William Bowshall-Tanner and Tristan Lilburn, while Caleb Newport leads the goalkicking with 10 in seven games and looms as a best-and-fairest frontrunner.
Kilmore’s women’s team have backed up its sensational debut season from 2025, and loom once again as a premiership threat in division two with six wins from eight games.
The Blues made their mark with wins over Lower Plenty and Hurstbridge to start the season, while a come-from-behind win over Reservoir was also enthralling.
Jade Ventura has emerged as the main goalkicking threat, leading with 19 goals, including a haul of six in the Blues’ recent win over Panton Hill, while Chiara Nardo, with nine goals, and Chloe Talbot, with seven, have also hit the scoreboard regularly.
Jenaya Stewart is a model of consistency, having been named in the best on seven occasions from her eight matches.
RIDDELL DISTRICT FNL
LANCEFIELD
Lancefield’s netball and football teams are currently at opposite ends of the ladder.
On the netball court, the Tigers are genuinely flying, having won six games and are on top through percentage compared to Wallan and Woodend-Hesket.
The Tigers are the most potent scoring force in the competition, helped in part by a mammoth 102-goal effort in its last start against Melton South.
The good times are continuing on for the senior women’s football team as well – currently sitting second in the four-team competition, and are clearly the biggest competitor to Macedon’s unbeaten run at the halfway point.
On the football field, however, Lancefield are the only team in the competition yet to score a victory and will be hoping to buck the trend to start moving back up the ladder.
A 29-point loss to Romsey is the closest the Tigers have come to a win, all the way back in round one.
Riley O’Meara has been a constant, named in the best on five occasions from his seven games, while Thomas Sayers has led the line in attack, leading the way with 14 goals so far this season.
ROMSEY
As it stands, it appears Romsey are dropping down the ladder and looks to be battling to ensure it doesn’t finish in the bottom two at this stage.
Things started brightly enough with two wins in its first three games over Lancefield and Woodend-Hesket, but a four-game losing slide has seen the Redbacks drop to ninth place on the ladder.
Clearly, Jack Jedwab has been the Redbacks’ best performer so far, kicking 25 goals from seven games and has been named in the best six times, while Corey Pertzel and Nathan Blair have been named in the best five times apiece.
On the netball court, Romsey is one of two teams yet to taste victory so far this season, alongside Melton South.
The closest it has come to a win is 13 goals on two occasions, against Gisborne Giants and Riddell, while it seems the best chance to break the duck will come in round 10 against the struggling Diggers Rest.
WALLAN
In seemingly every facet at the moment, Wallan is flying and look to be the early team to beat.
The seniors, reserves and under-19.5s have combined for 19 wins out of 20 games, which include the seniors and reserves going unbeaten up to this point of the season.
It is hard to pick a weakness in this Magpies team at the moment. Lachlan Smart has kicked 27 goals in seven games, Chris Stewart is impacting up forward and in the ruck, Dion Hill has proven to be one of the RDFNL’s elite swingmen in his short time at the club, and that’s without mentioning the continued brilliance of Sean Morris and Steven Boyall – who continue to rack up best player mentions for fun – and the late re-addition of Jake Carlisle to the mix down back.
The Magpies have passed every test afforded to them – wins over Diggers Rest at home and Macedon away more than noteworthy results.
The A-grade netballers have also been performing well as it looks to return to being a premiership threat after battling to make the finals all of last year.
Wins in its first five games was the reward, before losing its only game so far to Gisborne Giants by four goals in a replay of its elimination final last year.
