Almanac Footy – Western District Football Wrap: Round 1/Pre-Round 1

Western District Football Wrap

 

 

Hampden FNL

It’s a marathon, not a sprint. The cliché quite a few Hampden League followers/pundits will be saying to themselves after Round 1 of the season. Boom teams who have recruited well in Terang Mortlake, Port Fairy and Koroit were among those tasting defeat on the weekend, whilst Portland showed it will be a big improver this season and a team to be taken seriously.

 

Yes, teams may have players to come in and there will be others whose availability will be dependent on selection at a higher or representative level weekly but that’s country football now and whilst you don’t win Grand Finals in April, you’ve got to win the games to be there later in the year when the ‘whips are cracking’.

 

Portland at home jumped out of the blocks with the breeze in the first quarter and never looked back to lead all day and run out strong winners by 53 points. Coach, Lachie Huppatz, and his recruiting committee have led the way from before the end of last season to lay the groundwork for 2025 and it showed with the win on the weekend. With a number of players returning home for this season, including their four best players named against Koroit in Jake Edwards, Jay Moody, Daniel Jackson and Tanner Lovell, there was always going to be improvement. Jackson won the 2022 Maskell Medal for the League Best and Fairest when last in the competition and Tanner Lovell was runner-up League Best and Fairest last year in the Geelong Football League when playing with Geelong West Giants. Ex-Carlton and Melbourne small forward Jeff Garlett also pulled on the jumper for Portland and kicked three goals.

 

Koroit had players returning also in Sam Dobson from St Mary’s in the Geelong Football League and Lachie Rhook from Queensland, but they weren’t enough against Portland.

 

Elsewhere Camperdown downed Terang Mortlake – a team many are tipping for premiership honours this season – by 40 points at Terang. Ex- Brisbane Lions and Sydney Swans small forward Lewy Taylor, who is now coaching Terang Mortlake, was held goalless, whilst a young Darcy Hutchins kicked four goals for the home team to be the game’s leading goalkicker alongside Judah Dundon for the victors who also kicked four majors.

 

The Gardens Oval in Port Fairy was the venue for ex-Geelong player, Gary Rohan, to make his return to the Hampden league but the former Swan along with ex-Adelaide and Hawthorn player, Ricky Henderson, weren’t enough to get the home team over the line and they went down to the Nathan Vardy coached North Warrnambool by 58 points. Port Fairy are also tipped to be a big improver this season, but North Warrnambool, who have been beaten in the last two Senior Grand Finals by South Warrnambool showed they will be a force again this season.

 

The best team in the competition over the last couple of years, South Warrnambool, showed they will be the team to beat again with a six-goal win over Cobden, whilst in the remaining game Warrnambool were too strong in the last quarter for a youthful Hamilton who led for three quarters before being overrun in the last to also go down by six goals.

 

 

South West District FNL  

Premiership favorites, Cavendish, got their season off to a winning start with a 34 point win over Branxholme Wallacedale.

 

After being bundled out of the finals in straight sets last year, Cavendish have a point to prove this season and have recruited to add to their list from previous seasons. Ex-Box Hill player and 2023 Cavendish premiership player, Sam Gibson, has the coaching reins again in 2025; he led from the front and kicked five goals. Among those playing their first game for Cavendish was 2009 Bendigo Football League Michelsen Medal winner for the best and fairest in the league, Lee Coghlan. He joined two of his brothers in the Cavendish team on the weekend.

 

Last season’s premiers, Tyrendarra, got their season off to a winning start when they defeated Heathmere by 52 points whilst the team they beat in the grand final, Dartmoor, also showed they will be a force again by showing up Westerns by 51 points. Tyrendarra’s Dean Chester was the leading goal kicker for the round; he bagged six goals for the Darras who have a new coach this season with Tye O’Connell replacing 2024 premiership coach and League Best and Fairest, Sam Anson, who has moved away from the region.

 

The remaining game saw Heywood, coached again by ex-Collingwood player Leon Davis, defeat Coleraine by 29 points with Davis showinghe still knows where the goals are by kicking five. Ruck and premier basketballer in the region, Nathan Hardingham, chimed in with three goals of his own. New recruit, Kieran Barker, kicked three for Coleraine.

 

 

Mininera and District FNL

The Mininera and District Football Netball League kicks off next weekend with the highlight being a 2024 Grand Final rematch between Penshurst and Wickliffe Lake Bolac. If the pre-season stories are right both of these teams will be there again in September, and Woorndoo Mortlake is expected to make a big improvement this season and push into the finals battle after strong recruitment in the off season.

 

 

 

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Our writers are independent contributors. The opinions expressed in their articles are their own. They are not the views, nor do they reflect the views, of Malarkey Publications.

 

 

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