MGFNL Season 2026 - Round 15 Preview

For the second week in a row MGFNL fans are treated with a One v Two clash to highlight the round. After toppling their nearest and dearest rival, Fish Creek, last week Foster now face another challenger to their title when Yinnar rolls into town. When these sides last met it took until thirty seconds from the final siren and a Brett Eddy masterclass to determine a winner and there is no reason to suspect this clash won’t provide something similar.

Foster, aiming for the perfect season and back to back flags, against a Yinnar side that knows only too well how hard it is to win a flag from outside the top two looking to cement second spot on the ladder, give me this every Saturday please!

Oh, and don’t worry, the undercard is littered with season defining clashes literally from top to bottom with Morwell East and Toora locking horns looking to avoid finishing bottom of the ladder.

And of course, in between we have Fish Creek taking on Tarwin and Newborough and Hill End playing Boolarra and Stony Creek in must win clashes.

Not sure how we will do this for the next few weeks, especially if Foster roll Yinnar and percentage is likely decide second spot on the ladder.

Foster v Yinnar

A fast start saw Foster hold on over Fish Creek last week to keep their perfect season alive. They did so without Luke Tapscott, Brett Eddy and Tom Schnieder so the team sheets come Saturday will be of significant interest. They also had Mitch Allot in the lunch time league and their skipper, Dylan Williams, play another game of footy along-side big Mitch in the Scooby-Do’s in his come-back from a Round One injury.

Fair to say Foster coach Jake Best has some tough decisions to make Thursday night.

Yinnar too should be cherry ripe coming of the bye. A week to freshen up before a tilt at the Premiership which has been so close yet so far over the last two seasons. They will welcome back a few first choice players from their last outing, so the scene is set for a ripping contest.

To show this game the same level of respect as last week’s top of the table match I will again list a series of match-ups to look forward to. And same as I did last week I will offer my tip based on what is good for the rest of the season not based on whom I think will or even want to win.

In the Foster front half:

Jake Best v Mark Stolk

Brett Eddy V Harry McColl

Shaun Chaseling v Oli McColl

Michaael Cooke v Brendan Chapman

In the Yinnar front half:

Kane Grinstead-Jones v Aaron Rhodes

Lachlan Pratt v Craig Wray

Will Robertson v Liam Bentley

Mick Geary v Josh Toner

In the ruck:

Jese Bowe and Bobby Linton v Jack Rathjen and Mitch Allot

On the ball

Jack Weston, Tom Schnieder, Bailey Angwin and Angus Norton v

James De Virgilio, Sam Walsh, Nixon Hall and Flyn Schill

And don’t sleep on Yinnar’s Harvey McKay and Tom Robertson or Foster’s Oli Calcott and James Morris either.

In short, get in your car and get there!!

Now for the tip- remember for the sake of the season- Foster by 4 points. This of course means Yinnar and Fish Creek should battle it out until Round Eighteen where percentage will decide second spot on the ladder and the double chance.

Fish Creek v Tarwin

Fish Creek were gallant last week but ultimately came away empty handed in their battle with Foster. I suspect that spells bad news for this week’s opponents Tarwin as the Fishy lads like losing as much as most Reserves Players like training on Tuesdays.

A couple of advantages for Tarwin though come with a glimpse of the Fisch Creek side.

The Kangas have not been able to recall Jacko Wiedemann, who simply has to be on the podium as a minimum comes season’s end for the league B’n’F. Wiedemann must still be recovering from the shoulder injury he copped against Thorpy.

Jack Hayes too is not listed. Keen observers last week will have noted him exiting the field late in the last quarter requiring a fair bit of assistance as he did so. Hopefully only a “one weeker” for the super star centre half back. Sill though not great news for Jarrod Wlaker coming up against a Tarwin side that can play tall in front of the ball.

And on Tarwin, they got the job done over Morwell East las week and remain in touching distance of a finals spot. Their run home should see them bank twelve points with wins likely over Boolarra and Toora with a bye in the mix as well. Their percentage is healthy but with Hill End and Newborough either side of them on the ladder both having played in a draw it is likely to be straight up wins and losses that sees the Sharks play finals or not.

And that might be handy if things get out of control against a fired up Fish Creek this week.

Fish Creek to get the job done, relatively comfortably here.

Hill End v Stony Creek

Hill End, precariously placed on the ladder in sixth place, welcome Stony Creek to town this week in a must win game for the home side. The fact they had a draw during the season puts them on a different point’s plain to all but Newborough in the run home so the sole focus for the Rovers is to keep their percentage above that of Newborough while winning. They have a pair of winnable games in the run home with Stony Creek and Mirboo North this week and next before they take on the league’s top two sides in rounds seventeen and eighteen. What did we say about percentage?

Stony Creek will absolutely give themselves a hope in this match-up but I find the role of disruptor is usually superseded by anyone looking to play finals.

Tom Jonstone, team of the year contender for the starting ruck role, should give the home side first use which is crucial given that Stony Creek’s one-wood is definitely their on ball brigade. With several Stones to throw around the footy to compliment the work of Loughridge and Bernando Stony Creek will present more than nuisance value to Hill End.

If Hill End can keep Luke Firth and Bernando from kicking more than five or six between them the Rovers finals hopes will live on for another week.

Morwell East v Toora

Gippsland FM will bring you all the action in the clash between Morwell East and Toora in a match which will highly likely decide who “wins” the MGFNL wooder spoon for season 2026. Neither club has any interest in taking home this unwanted award so you can bet your bottom dollar this will be a battle from minute one until the final siren.

To set the scene, both clubs are on eight points. Both have a bye to come in the run home.

East play Yinnar next week with the Pies still in the hunt for a top two spot, they then have their bye followed by Mirboo North in the last round, a side who have hit some form of late.

Toora have top of the table Foster, then a Tarwin outfit that will be playing for a finals berth before finishing the season with the bye.

So, to put it bluntly this game is most likely the last chance saloon for either side to chalk up a win and that win is most likely going to be the difference between last spot or not.

With the advantage of the home ground I am leaning ever so slightly toward East but would not be the least bit surprised to hear Toora got the job done come Saturday afternoon.

Newborough v Boolarra

Sitting a game and percentage outside the top six every game is simply must win for Newborough now. They have Boolarra this week, their second bye the week after and come home with Thorpy and Stony Creek. They go in favourites in two of those three games but with a poor percentage may need to win all three to make the post season. And as much as they’d love to win all three their sole focus this week will be on Boolarra.

The Demons have had a disappointing season to date with injuries and absences ruining much of coach Brendan Mason’s pre-season planning. But last week they found a gear. Forward Mat Hebbard returned. Small forward Mat Devon again hit he scoreboard with multiple goals and the coaches brother and Demon skipper, Jole Mason, played his best game for the season.

Newborough last week started with the games first three majors and then fell in a hole against a pumped up MDU.

It has been some time since Boolarra belted out their song after playing Newborough and they’d love nothing more than to do so this week while putting an end to the Doggies finals chances.

Pat Frendo though will have the tri-colours fired up for a big one with so much on the line. The inclusion of Joh Hecker for just his sixth game of the season certainly doesn’t harm the Newborough’s case going forward either.

Close game this- both sides are known entities; both are capable of kicking around a dozen goals. Given a wet tail end to the week and the rain forecast for Saturday eight or nine might even be enough.

So, who wins? The winner of the battle between Boolarra’s Tim Potter and Newborough’ Kyle Jenings that’s who.

MDU, Mirboo North and Thorpdale have byes this week.