MGFNL Season 2026 - Preliminary Final Preview

The last chance saloon that is the Preliminary Final is played this week at Foster. With the hosts, Foster, already safe and secure in the last game of the year the league’s second and third best teams will battle it out on their turf for the right to take on the Tigers in the last, and most important, game of the year the week after at Meeniyan.

Yinnar limp into the Prelim on the back of a comprehensive defeat the week before when Foster took them to the cleaners by the best part of fifteen goals.

Fish Creek on the other hand arrive off a narrow win over MDU. A win that was largely due to the individual brilliance of Charlie Wilson. And simply put his appearance on the park, or otherwise, this Saturday will likely go a long way in determining the outcome of this match as well.

Sadly, for the player himself, Fish Creek and neutral spectators Wilson didn’t appear on the ground in the last term last weekend as he was icing an injury. For the sake of the game here’s hoping he springs back into action and takes to the park so we get a clash where both sides are as close to full strength as they possibly can be. (Note, he has not been named in the selected side)

Not that you can simply roll out a reserves player to take the place of someone who kicks seven of your senior sides nine goals the compounding issue for Fishy is that their two’s haven’t played since week one of the finals when they were held to a single major by Tarwin.

Yinnar on the other hand already have their Magoo’s in the last dance and have a full squad to choose from if any of their senior players don’t come up after last week’s loss.

A quick history lesson from season 2026.

The two sides met only once and played out an instant classic. A game of the year contender where both sides cracked three digits on the scoreboard and less than a straight kicked separated them at the final siren with Fishy winning, at Yinnar, 16-12-108 to 16-7-103. And surprise, surprise Charlie Wilson’s five majors went along way to determining the winner that day.

Both sides have had a look at Foster’s home turf this season, with Fishy going down in a wet and windy Round One clash and Yinnar saluting in an equally wet but much muddier game in Round Fifteen.

Uncanny that both sides saw the venue in wet conditions when nearly every round of footy played this year was done so in better than average weather but there you go.

To the game this week itself.

Yinnar’s front half, starved for opportunity for much of last week and mostly unable to capitalise it did present have to, and will, lift. Flynn Schill and Nixon Hall kicked Yinnar’s four goals last week. The odds of Kane Grinstead Jones, Will Robertson, Lachy Pratt and Mick Geary going goalless two weeks in a row are incalculable.

Robertson in particular had an almost game last week. He got his hands to plenty of marking chances but couldn’t complete them. He won’t be dropping too many two weeks in a row. He will however have another very good opponent with Jack Hayes likely to go to him after Liam Bentley chased him around for four quarters last week.

At the other end of the park it will be Charlie Wilson, hopefully, and Thomas Cameron that will keep the Yinnar defenders occupied. Mark Stolk and Oli McColl are two likely match ups with Tom Robertson or Oli’s brother Harry going to Jai Stefani as well as being Plan B for Wilson.

The battle in the engine room will be a cracker. Not often Yinnar get beaten in there, but they were last week. Norton, Schnieder and Weston of Foster had plenty of it and this week it gets no easier for the Pies. A couple of Wiedemann’s, Blaine Coates, Mitch Hicks and Jacob Lamers will ensure the Yinnar midfield earn every clearance and possession they get.

So, who wins?

Not that any footy match ever played in the history of humans has been decided by someone who didn’t play the simple fact is Fishy can only win if they can kick ten plus goals this week. And for what it is worth I think they can only do that if Wilson plays.

So, in short, if Wilson plays Fishy are a show, if not Yinnar will earn the chance to prove their semi-final was an outlier when they take on Foster in the last game of the year the week after.

The senior game will be live streamed via the leagues YouTube channel and broadcast on Gippsland FM 104.7 from 14:00 on Saturday for those unable to attend in person.