Netballers warm-up for season at BFNL tournament

NETBALL teams from across the region have emerged from last weekend’s BFNL Senior Netball Tournament with plenty of learnings, as the countdown to round one in their respective leagues continues.

Thirteen clubs fielded teams across two divisions on Saturday, with five having teams in both division one, played at Mars Stadium, and division two, at CE Brown Reserve.

The tournament attracted visiting teams from the Central Highlands, Hampden, Horsham and District, Maryborough and Castlemaine, Riddell and Wimmera leagues.

A massive and hard-fought program of round robin matches and grand finals resulted in a clean sweep for Geelong league powerhouse St Joseph’s.

The Joeys clinched the division one title and $1000 first prize purse with a nail-biting two-goal win over reigning Hampden league premiers Koroit, the new home of former Sunbury and BFNL league powerhouse Becca Hicks.

They added a further $500 to the club’s coffers with a seven-goal win against East Point in division two.

It was a mixed set of results for home league teams, all missing multiple key players due to VNL, personal and other commitments.

North Ballarat finished fifth in division one, two spots above Sunbury, with Redan in ninth spot.

Sunbury’s second team finished fifth in division two and Redan in eighth.

Despite missing the bulk of her side, including Ruby Shannon, Eliza Gollant Sarah Croft, Caitlin Hill, Charlie Bellette and Amalani Fauonuku, who was in the Northern Territory training with the territory’s representative team, Sunbury coach Kim Bailey said the tournament was still a nice hit-out for those who did line-up for the Lions.

“It was nice to have a run, as we haven’t really had one before the season; most of our girls play VNL,” she said.

“But they have all had a big pre-season and having just started the VNL season, we didn’t want to over burden them.

“It was a good day … very hot.

“North Ballarat, like us, wasn’t at full-strength. I think all the Ballarat teams went in with a combination of some As, Bs and Cs, but it was still good to get some match-play in.”

Grand finalists last year and premiers in 2024, Bailey is expecting the Lions to be somewhere around the mark again in 2026, despite the losses of gun goal shooter Hicks and two-time league medallist Simon De Filippo.

“We obviously won’t have Ruby Shannon until about round six as she is playing SNN Reserves with Mavs, and (goalkeeper) Elly Randall is getting married and won’t be playing until after that, so she’l miss rounds one and two,” she said.

“And Caitlin Hill was interstate last weekend.

 

“Put them back in and we’ll look okay.”

Bailey nominated North Ballarat, under new playing coach Maddie Fitzpatrick, as a team to watch this season.

Also without several players last weekend, the Roosters took plenty of positives out of the tournament, according to Fitzpatrick.

“There was some really solid, strong competition from around the region,” she said.

“As far as how the girls went, so many good combinations and really building those connections out there.

“It is the first time some of us have played together, so we were really building on some of those foundations we have been laying at training.”

The highlight for the Roosters was a win over eventual runner-up Koroit, with Fitzpatrick describing their overall tournament performance as solid.

“We got what we wanted out of it, which was building those connections and starting to implement some of those things we have really been focusing on in the pre-season,” she said.

The Roosters will open their 2026 campaign against a strengthened Ballarat at Mars Stadium on 11 April.

A full round of games that day includes a rematch of last year’s grand finalists Darley and Sunbury at Darley Park, Lake Wendouree v Redan, Sebastopol v East Point and Melton v Bacchus Marsh.

East Point and Bacchus Marsh will start their seasons a week earlier against one another on Good Friday.

BFNL general manager Gemma Murphy said plans were already underway to expand next year’s tournament, with several clubs vowing to return.

“We are hoping to bring in female football to the tournament next year and will have a women’s sporting carnival,” she said.

“We are hoping to align this with International Women’s Day.”

Division one standings

1. St Joseph’s

2. Koroit

3. Gisborne Giants

4. Cobden

5. North Ballarat

6. Laharum Demons

7. Sunbury

8. North Warrnambool Eagles

9. Redan

10. Navarre

Division two standings

1. St Joseph’s

2. East Point

3. Horsham Saints

4. Koroit

5. Sunbury

6. North Warrnambool Eagles

7. Dunnstown

8. Redan