MGFNL Season 2026 - Round 16 Review

The leagues two big guns, Foster and Yinnar, asserted their authority over the bottom two sides, Toora and Morwell East on Saturday with a combined winning margin of 333 points. The “finals shaper” between MDU and Thorpy turned into a “finals fizzer” with Thorpy atoning for their earlier season loss to the Demons in emphatic style. Not quite so emphatic but equally important was Hill End seven point result over Mirboo North and to the surprise of many Stony Creek more than held their own against Fish Creek siting just three goals in arrears of their opponents at the last change before going down by a tick under six goals.

And of course, while all this was going on Tarwin, Newborough and Boolarra collected four points courtesy of the bye with Tarwin and Newborough still within touching distance of post season activity.

But let’s go back to the top and start our detailed preview there.

Toora versus Foster

Foster welcomed back the league’s leading goal kicker after a late season sabbatical and Brett Eddy took no time to reacquaint himself with the scoreboard with the superstar kicking ten to lead his side to a whopping win, 30-16-196 to Toora’s 1-4-10.

To put Eddy’s season into perspective he has played ten games and kicked seventy-four goals. He has featured in the best in six of his ten outings and only three times kicked less than five goals, with best efforts of eighteen, twelve and ten. Going ok is Brett…….

Interestingly his regular partner in crime, and coach, Jake Best sat this one out. With Foster having the bye next week his absence will see him either super fresh for the last round of the year or incredibly well rested for week two of the finals if that’s when he returns.

In Best’s absence Shaun Chaseling again popped up with half a dozen goals to take his seasons tally to thirty-four containing bags of six, seven and seven.

Competing with so much firepower up front and through the middle was always going to stretch Toora but their inability to score is highlighted by the fact they had no more than two scoring shots in any quarter. It was, of course, young tyro Tex Dyson who slotted his sides only major of the day.

Toora were best served by coach Lachi Smart, Chris Baker and team of the year hopeful Josh Halsall.

For the winners Lachy Rathjen was given the nod as best on along with Eddy for his ten. Anguss Norton, who has been in huge form over the last month took his regular place amongst the better performers as did Jack Weston playing against his old club. 

Yinnar v Morwell East

You know you are going well when you can make two changes to your side coming off a win over the previously undefeated Foster and still kick 25-15-165 to Morwell East’s 2-6-18 and that is exactly what Yinnar did. The pies this week welcomed back Clancy Mills and recruit James Jacobsen to the seniors after the due spent last week in the seconds. And just like their teammates neither took any time to warm to conditions with the black and whites winning the toss, electing to kick to the Churchill end and promptly booting nine first quarter goals. 

Things started as they often do for Yinnar with a Harry McColl intercept. His handy work found Flynn Schill who in turn found best on ground Sam Walsh for the first of his two goals for the day. This was quickly followed up by Will Robertson, who had Kaleb Chapman for company, who won a free kick at the top of the square and kicked truly.

Schill had the chance to add to the early carnage, but his set shot found the woodwork before East finally got the ball forward.

Courtesy of a decent “fifty” the ball ended up in the hands of Cain Iorangi, who had youngster Oli McColl in tow for the day. Iorangi however could only replicate Schill’s minor score and normal services were resumed with Yinnar running amok. 

Walsh notched his second, Mills joined in the fun and when Harry McColl found Lachy Pratt he lined up for their fifth of the term with not even twenty minutes played. Notman added to Pratts major almost immediately and Yinnar were out to a thirty-nine to one lead, with the first term damage still not yet complete.

Harvey McKay, still eligible for the early game kicked three in the space of a few minutes including a ripper out of the air before being sat on his rear end. After the ensuing fracas gave way the kid booted the third of his four for the day and the quarter time siren saw the score read 9-4-58 to 0-2-2 and the game was done.

The second term saw Kane Grinstead Jones, who had Callum Lane for company, slot the first two for Yinnar before Lachlan Tactor, the East ruckman went forward to break the Hawks drought. 

This was immediately offset however by Pratt’s second which was served on a plate to him by Walsh.

Liam Little took advantage of a minor dust-up to slot East’s second, and last, goal for the day before things turned completely black and white. From this point on it was eighty-seven to three and Yinnar got not only the four points they needed to remain in second spot but a nice little bit of insurance by way of a percentage boost as well.

Of the win coach Sam McCulloch said, “it was a convincing team performance, with every player contributing”. He continued that “it was particularly pleasing to see the strong connection within the group, as everyone worked together and played their role”.

When asked about the conditions and any impact they may have had McCulloh responded “despite the heavy ground, we moved the ball effectively and maintained our composure throughout the game”. He finished up by noting that his sides’ “ability to adjust to the conditions while sticking to our game plan was pleasing”.

For the winners it was multiple goals to Grinstead Jones (6), McKay (4), Pratt and Will Roberetson (3) and Walsh and fellow midfielder James DeVirgilio with a pair apiece.

Walsh was named best on ground along with Nixon Hall and DeVirgilio while I thought the game of Bobby Linton worthy of note. 

For the East it was singles to Little and Tactor with Tactor, Dylan field and Frank Marks named as their best three.

MDU v Thorpdale

In the game that was meant to be the closest of the round the battle between fourth and fifth turned into a real fizzer after quarter time with Thorpy recording an all too easy, yet crucial, win at Meeniyan 15-14-104 to 10-7-67.

Sometimes footy gets overly complicated but simply put when your best, or perhaps most important, players play well you will win more than you lose. And casting a quick eye over the better players for Thorpy yesterday supports this hypothesis. Gav Low, an horrendously underrated ruckman, midfield bull Anthony “Tank” Rosato, Ayden Ramm and Shannon Pickering all appear. Throw in a combined five goals to Travis Pattern and Hayden Britten and you have the recipe for success.

To be fair it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Thorpy with MDU leading for the majority of the first term but once they gave the lead up nearing the quarter time hooter the home side were simply never back in it. Thorpy had eight scoring shots in the second term to just the one and were it not for bad kicking their half time lead would have been much greater than just nineteen points.

But after the long break Thorpy found their radar and the game was blown out of the water. The visitors piled on seven unanswered goals before MDU kicked the last two of the term, but it was all academic by then. The last quarter saw the Demons kick four goals to two but there was never really any hope of a revival and the ‘Dales came, saw and conquered.

For MDU Kieran Bohn, Thomas Kerr and Tim Harris were listed as best with Pat Kerr (3) and Nick Nagel (2) the only multiple goal kickers. 

Speaking post the result Rhett Kelly MDU coach said “we were outclassed by a better side, they controlled a large part of the game, smashed us at ground level and in the air”.

When asked about Thorpy’s perceived territory advantage Kelly said “we allowed far too many intercept marks, which meant they could cut us off and keep the ball in their forward half. Because of that, we were never really able to get our game going”.

On Thorpy’s dominant third term Kelly lamented “after halftime we came out flat, and they took full advantage, dominating the quarter” .

He continued that “to the boys' credit, we showed a bit of fight late in the third term and again in the last quarter, but overall they were so strong across the day”.

Kelly summarised the result as follows: “It's a tough loss and obviously a very disappointing result, but dwelling on it won't help us. The only thing we can do now is respond. We've got two games left, and we need to make sure we get everything we can out of them”.

Mirboo North v Hill End

In a must win game for the visitors Hill End got what they needed, the victory, but only after a monumental scare from a Mirboo North side finishing the season off in a much better fashion than they started it. After looking comfortable at the last change Hill End held on to win by just seven points, 12-11-83 to Mirboo Norths 11-10-76.

The Rover’s win was built on the back of a six goal second term which saw them extend a small quarter time margin to thirty-four points as the sides trudged off to the sheds at the long break. Were it not for a couple of Jon Conlan majors in that second term for the home side the gap would have been even greater and the hordes of past players and sponsors in attendance might have seen something vastly different to the near comeback win that unfolded over the next hour or so.

Jesse Rawlings and then Jacob Blair got things going on the scoreboard for the Tigers after half time and when the tigers slotted the last couple for the term hopes were starting to rise amongst the throng that were brave enough to venture out to the huddle.

And when Riley Oddy and Blair again goaled to start the last term the margin was back to seven points, and all eyes were firmly fixed on proceedings out on the ground.

Alas it was as close as the home side would get and back to the stories of years gone by it was for the past players.

While for the Hill End players it might well be the start of their own stories, told in years to come about how 2026 saw the Rovers back into the finals and from there, who knows!

Post game Hill End Coach Tom Hallinan described the result as “a tough gutsy win away from home” noting his side faced a few challenges on the day, namely the Mirboo North past players day, multiple premiership reunions, sponsors day, heritage jumper and the obvious home ground advantage.

Hallinan spoke of a “tough even start” with “missed opportunities at both ends which seemed to be the theme all game”.

Quizzed about his sides second quarter burst Hallinan said “we went to work in the second quarter by winning football and being cleaner and more decisive inside fifty. Tom Johnstone and Darcy Paul helped straighten us up with grunt ruck work from Cal Paul and Liam Cumiskey”.

Hallinan also praised the efforts of Aaron Fawcett “who wore a tag” for the day.

For the winner’s team of the year contender Tom Johstone was again at his best, this time adding goal kicking to his skill set booting three. Darcy Paul did the same and also found his name on the best players list along with Bailey Sword and Aaron Fawcett.

For Mirboo North it was Beau Peters, Archie Woodall and Jesse Chilla listed as best with the ever-green Jacob Blair leading the goal kicking list with three.

Post match Mirboo North coach Damien Turner also noted the efforts of Peters and Woodall saying “Beau was outstanding and seemed to be involved in everything, while young gun Archie Woodall continues to show impressive development each week” . Turner also noted that “Hayden Barnes also produced some exciting moments up forward and continues to grow in confidence”.

On the result though Turner was less enthusiastic. “It was a tough result to swallow after a slow start proved costly”.

When asked about the third term resurgence Turner said “we challenged the players at half-time, making a couple of positional changes and tightening up a few areas, and to their credit they responded with a spirited second-half performance that saw us throw everything at Hill End”.

On a day when the past was celebrated Turner acknowledged the youth in the current line-up when he said “as pleasing as our second-half fightback was, our challenge, with such a young group is reducing those patches where we lose our way and allow opposition sides to gain momentum. If we can shorten those lapses, we’ll give ourselves every chance to compete for four quarters”.

As he nearly always does Turner finished on a positive note: “I couldn’t question the group’s effort, determination and willingness to compete until the final siren. It was especially pleasing to show that fight on our past players and sponsors day, whose support means so much to our football club”.

Stony Creek v Fish Creek

If I told you Fish Creek led at every change and increased their margin at every break over Stony Creek you might rightfully predict a three figure blow out as the final score. Well, you’d be wrong. Fish Creek did exactly as described but those margins were one point, six points, nineteen points and then finally thirty-five with the Kangas getting the job done 12-11-83 to Stony Creek 7-6-48.

If it weren’t for Fishy kicking the last three of the match the margin would have been much closer than it was in a promising result for Stony Creek.

For the winners Tom Valenta impressed as did Jacob Lamers and Sam McGannon. Jacko Wiedemann looks to have overcome his shoulder knock slotting three majors and again featuring amongst his sides best. The enigma that is Blaine Coates also driller three of the finest with Lames the only other multiple goal scorer.

For Stony Creek Will Brown was best on with Julian and Cameron Stone taking their places on the podium either side of him. Luke Firth and Tyler Neal managed a pair of goals in an encouraging late season performance.

On his sides performance coach Troy Shpeherdson said the “idea was to stay in the game as deep as we could and today the boys stuck to task”. He continued that the theme of the week was to have “a free swing at a side bound for deep finals” before adding, rather contently, that “true to form we give the good sides a good run”.

Newborough, Tarwin and Boolarra all had a bye.