Bendigo FNL 2022 fixture set

AFTER two COVID-19 effected years the Bendigo Football Netball League has released its 2022 schedule and it’s figures crossed for a full season.

The comp one will begin on 9 April, followed by a round of Easter games over the long weekend including four on Good Friday and one of them, Kyneton verses Gisborne to be played under lights.

In all there’ll be 18 rounds with finals getting underway on 27 August and flags decided on 17 September.

In-between are a range of special rounds and games. The Graeme Wright Memorial Cup will see South Bendigo take Sandhurst in round three, and the Ron Best Memorial Cup will go between Golden Square and Sandhurst in round five.

Round seven will be the Indigenous round, and the weekend of Saturday, 2 July is a league-wide bye.

However, there’ll be no interleague in 2022.

“The BFNL hold representative programs such as interleague in high regard and were fully committed and excited to return to interleague participation in 2022 following several months of negotiations,” a statement from the league said.

“However, ultimately the BFNL were unable to receive commitment from a suitable opponent, and as such will defer the program until season 2023.

“The BFNL remain fully committed to returning to interleague football and netball participation in season 2023.”

The upshot of no interleague is that is that round six will now be split across two weekends, with Sandhurst to take on Eaglehawk in a standalone game on Saturday, 21 May.