MGFNL Season 2026 - Round 15 Review

In a round where we might have listened to a few of our favourite Bon Jovi tunes on the way to the game it wasn’t just the album that was slippery when wet on Saturday. Wind, rain and sodden grounds greeted participants on the fields and courts across Gippsland and oh boy did the conditions have an impact on the scoring when it came to senior footy.

To put the change of conditions and the impact to scoring in perspective consider this; the last time the league’s three top sides all played on the same day, prior to Saturday just gone, they kicked seventy-two goals between them. This Saturday they amassed just fifteen.

Regardless of the conditions though the footy was still played and the results shook up the top, bottom and middle of the ladder.

At the top Yinnar’s defeat of Foster sees the Pies take a strangle hold on the double chance while also ending Foster’s run at a perfect season.

At the bottom Morwell East’s win over Toora should see the Hawks avoid the wooden spoon, while Toora now will need a minor miracle to not “win” it.

And in the middle Newborough and Hill End did what they needed to against Boolarra and Stony Creek respectively to keep their finals hopes alive while Tarwin avoided too much damage to their percentage when being beaten by Fish Creek. 

But back to the top we go where it was Yinnar inflicting Foster’s first loss of the year on them in a wet, windy and ultimately soggy game in South Gippsland.

Foster v Yinnar

Yinnar kicked the first three of the game before the reigning premiers answered with two of their own before scoring became harder than putting tooth paste back in the tube. With only four goals kicked from quarter time onward the Pies got the win they needed, virtually wrapping up the double chance, 7-4-46 to Foster’s 3-9-27.

Whether or not Foster got the loss they needed will be determined in coming week’s but with the perfect season now off the table all the tigers need worry about is defending the Premiership they won last year. 

But back to the start where there was plenty of activity even prior to kick off.

Foster named the league’s leading goal kicker Bretty Eddy, but the word from the Yinnar camp was that he was 100% not paying. Turns out they were right the Pies but not only was Eddy out of the Foster line up so to was Michael Cooke, the vice-captain and workhorse centre half forward who is soften the conduit between the back end and the front end. How big of a loss he was I suspect won’t be recognised until these two sides come together again.

Yinnar too had a few players not present and accounted for with skipper Ben Cheffers confined to running duties and Clancy Mills returning from a mid- season hiatus via the lunch time league.

But there was still talent to burn for both sides and a season defining four points up for grabs.

The early match ups were intriguing. Mark Stolk went to Foster’s coach Jake Best. Pat Kearns was sent to Shaun Chaseling and potentially the youngest player on the ground Oli McColl found himself standing potentially the not youngest in Jack Weston. 

At the other end Craig Wray lined up next to Kane Grinstead Jones, Tom Littore went to Lachy Pratt and Liam Bentley to Will Robertson.

Through the middle of the ground both sides had changes too. Yinnar had Jesse Bowe in the ruck and used nominal Centre Half Back Brendan Chapman to support him as second ruck with regular ruck Bobby Linton enjoying a run on the wing. For Foster Tom Schnieder and Dylan Williams rolled into the middle with Bailey Angwin.

The scene was set and right on cue Hewy sent it down!

Yinnar, unperturbed by weather or opposition set about lighting the scoreboard up while the ball was dry and the conditions at their best. Nixon Hall opened proceedings before skipper Blake Van Der Meer spoiled a cross ground kick and ran into an open goal to get the visitors second on the board.

When Mick Geary, who swapped mid and forward with Grinstead Jones for most of the day, found Will Robertson for the Pies third inside ten minutes alarm bells were ringing for the league leaders. 

So what did Foster do- they got the ball forward and into the hands of Jake Best. He out-marked Stolk and kicked truly from outside fifty to settle the troops. And when Angus Norton was felled after taking a mark and gifted a goal the alarm bells were turned off and Foster were only eight points behind.

Alas this was as close as they’d get for the rest of the day.

Ben Skinner found Lach Pratt late in the term for the first of his three and Yinnar trudged into their huddle across an ever-worsening surface with a thirteen point quarter time lead.

For the visitors Nixon Hall and Flyn Schill were in everything. Sam Walsh was good early as was Harry McColl and big Jesse Bowe.

Weston and Norton flew the flag for the home side but would need more support for the tigers to get back into the contest in the second term. 

Scoring was limited for the remainder of the game making Foster skipper Dylan Williams miss all the more crucial at the start of the second term.

And when Grinstead Jones took advantage of a down field free before Pratt stormed into an open goal and went bang those alarm bells were back on in a hurry.

Compounding Foster’s scoreboard worries Jack Flavelle, Jake Best and Bailey Angwin all took turns on the bench with varying degrees of knocks and issues before the end of the first half.

Jake Best swung some changes at the main break sending Liam Bentley forward but it was to no avail. The third term ended up with a goal apiece to Pratt from Yinnar and Jack Flavelle with the margin on the scoreboard actually widening the longer the game went not due to Yinnar scoring but simply due to how hard scoring became.

The fourth quarter saw Foster register three behinds while keeping Yinnar off the scoreboard but the only thing anyone was really interested in was getting through the remainder of the game without injuries. 

Post game Jake Best said “it was a tough day in really challenging conditions. Credit to Yinnar they started strongly and put us on the back foot early”.

An under stated winning coach Sam McCulloch said after the game he was “very pleased to come away with the win and move into second place on the ladder”. He expanded further that “we started the game with great intensity around the contest, allowing us to establish an early lead that ultimately set the foundation for the victory”.

When asked about the wet and wild weather McCulloch added “the conditions were challenging, but we adapted well, remained composed, and were able to defend our early advantage throughout the match”.

Fish Creek v Tarwin

Fish Creek did nothing more than what they need in recording a twenty-point win over Tarwin,  5-11-41 to the Sharks 3-3-2. With Jackson Wiedemann still not on the park and Jack Hayes not overcoming an injury form late in last week’s loss to Foster the Kanaga’s were short of their best side but, as good sides do, still found a way.

It took the Kangas sixteen minutes in the first term to find a major and hen fourteen in the second to kick their second for the day such were the conditions. In retrospect when Rhett Wiedemann kicked truly at the seventeenth minute mark of the second quarter to extend the lead to twenty-one points Fishy had probably done enough.

But with their season to play for Tarwin fired back shortly after the main break when Toby Mahoney, perhaps the major beneficiary of hayes absence, kicked the first of his, and his sides three for the day. It may have taken to the fifteen-minute mark of the third for Tarwin to register their second, but when Mahoney again kicked accurately there was under two kicks in the contest and the visitors were a huge sniff.

The last quarter was a battle between the arcs with only Fishy managing to score early. Their three behinds whilst seemingly wasteful extended the lead beyond to beyond two goals which might have looked like a dozen or more on a dry day so hard was scoring. 

But it was all academic when Harry Smith slotted second and the margin become greater than three goals which was of course more than Tarwin had managed for the day to that point.

Mahoney eventually slotted another for the Sharks, but it was too little too late.

Wingman Blaine Coates and defender Tom Valenta were the best duo for Fishy with Reghan Lewis backing up his terrific game versus Foster with another vote grabber this week. Wiedemann and Smith kicked a pair each with Sam McGannon, who also found his way into the best the only single goal kicker on the park for the day. 

For Tarwin defenders Ricky O’Louglin and Lachie Jones were the best pair. Fergus Warren snuck on to the podium as third best while Toby Mahoney, who kicked all of Tarwin’s three goals coming in just behind him. 

After the game Tarwin coach Lachie Jones said of the day; “a game in tough conditions today but full credit to Fish Creek. They were missing some key pieces, and they still are hard to bust open”. 

Jones continued that he was “happy with our intent and effort for the majority of the day but we lacked some damage across our half forward line and it played into their hands”.

In terms of individual performers of note Jones nominated Ferg Warren and Callum McLeod who he said, “toiled endlessly in the backline” before adding “Dylan Garnham and Jordan Bertacco gave their effort all day around the middle”. 

Looking forward Jones summarised things well when he said, “destiny for season 2026 is a little out of hands now but we have the bye next week before taking on Toora in Round seventeen”.

Winning coach Jarrod Walker said post-match that the game was “a tough slog all day with ground conditions making it extremely hard to move the ball and score” He continued noting this “resulted in a big stoppage game and gaining territory by any way possible. Being able to lock the ball in our half of the ground helped us eventually find a few goals, although our goal kicking still a bit inaccurate”. 

Hill End v Stony Creek

After trailing at the first break Hill End slotted six goals to two across the next three terms to chalk up an important win over Stony Creek 6-7-43 to 3-9-27.

Given the conditions across the rest of Gippsland, one can only imagine what it might have been like here. I can almost see the hordes of supporters in their green and gold beanies huddled around a series of fires cheering the lads on like they always do!

After only one goal and one behind were kicked in the first quarter it would have been to the amazement of all that Seth Calway managed to open proceedings for the home side after just a dozen or so seconds were played in the second stanza when he kicked truly. 

To be fair it did take twenty minutes for the next goal to be kicked, this time by Bayley Paul but when this was followed up minutes later by Ambu Uliando’s finish just before half time the home side had wrested back not only the lead but the momentum going into the major change.

In a replica of the second term the Hillmen slotted a goal inside a minute to open the third and even though there was close to an hour of footy to play the game was as good as done. And if it wasn’t over then it surely was when Kyle Baker kicked the home side’s fifth to extend the lead to four gaols four minutes into the premiership quarter.

Stony Creek did manage two of the last three goals for the game, including the only goal of the last term but to the victors go the spoils and for this week at least those spoils include sixth spot on the ladder. 

Hill End were best served by ruckman Tom Johnstone, Zac Mills and Darcy Paul. They had five individual goal kickers on the day with Liam Cumiskey and Kade Perkins joining those noted above.

For Stony Creek Captain Jai Bright, Will Brown and Luke Firth managed a goal each. Brown was joined in the best by Julian Stone and Tully Bernaldo.

Stony Creek coach Troy Shepherdson was blunt in his assessment post- game declaring that “turnovers cost us the ultimate result” before adding that very inaccurate kicking on our behalf kicked us out of a game which I thought we controlled for a lot of the contest”.

Winning coach Tom Hallinan felt that the preparation of both sides was as significant as the conditions when he noted after the match “two teams clearly coming off a bye. Was messy, congested footy for three quarters”. 

Hallinan went on to say he felt his side only really “got our game going in the third quarter into the wind”.

When asked what changed during this period Hallinan responded that “movement, angles, forward presentation and lock in was the corner stone of the winning quarter”. 

Perhaps the best summary came when Hallinan labelled the result a “pleasing but frustrating win”.

Morwell East v Toora

After a cracking three quarter contest that saw nothing separate the sides at the last change Morwell East put their undies on the outside and threw on a cape in the last term to run away winners 12-14-86 to Toora’s 7-5-47. 

The last term saw East kick a behind and a goal in the opening two minutes before Toora got back within a straight kick at the five-minute mark. From then on, it was all one-way traffic.

The Hawks piled on five unanswered goals in ten minutes of footy that saw the celebrations for just their second win of the year start well before the final siren.

Frank Marks and Lachlan Tactor led the way for the Hawks with Clymo, Gallante, Iorangi and Quinn all kicking two each.

For Toora Chris Baker continued his outstanding form with another best on where he was joined by Tex Dyson. The youngster with the elite hands kicked three of his sides seven but sadly it was not enough for the travelling Pies. 

If the ladder is a decent predictor of likely coming results the win should see East avoid the spoon. The same cannot be said for Toora however who will have to beat one of Foster or Tarwin in their last two games to avoid it.  

Newborough v Boolarra

After storming home late last week to fall just short of Thorpdale Boolarra have done the same again this week kicking five last quarter goals to fall short at Newborough losing to the Dogs 12-6-78 versus 11-7-73. 

As they did last week the Dogs came out snarling and slotted the first five of the game. With the tri-colours still realistically pursuing a finals spot and Boolarra thinking ahead to their trip away you’d excuse either side for thinking that was that. But these Demons have more than a bit of go in them and fought back late to kick the last three of the term to get the margin back to a manageable eleven points at the first break.

The second term was more of a slow burn with the Dogs taking ten minutes to register the quarters first goal though Josh Pearce. When this was followed up by a goal to Jack Robinson and another to the Dogs off the boot of Nathan Whiledon the margin was out to as good as five goals and that would surely do.

But as if to just keep everyone interested diminutive Boolarra forward Matt Devon kicked truly on the half time hooter and the margin was back to twenty-one points at the main break.   

With the sides trading two goals each in the third term nobody foresaw the wild finish that was coming. Trailing by twenty-two points and having only managed six goals across three quarters of footy the Demons went on a run that saw them get back within a goal three times during the last term.

They booted the first three of the last term to get within a goal before Pearce, with his fifth for the day, steadied for the Dogs.

Then Boolarra went again through Isiah Baldock to get it back to a one kick game before Matt Rowlings came to the home sides rescue and settled things down. 

This would only be temporary however with Boolarra going forward and goaling again. So with the margin at five points and under a minute left the ball fell to skipper Joel Mason.

Given the final scores are listed above you already know his shot didn’t trouble the scorers and the Dogs prevailed.

Boolarra coach Brendan Mason said after the game he was “spewing to fall short again” before adding that the “boys showed great fight to stay in the game after going down by thirty points”.

When asked the difference between the two sides Mason simply said, “Josh Pearce was the difference”