{"id":175203,"date":"2025-11-26T17:00:29","date_gmt":"2025-11-26T06:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/?p=175203"},"modified":"2025-11-27T10:25:31","modified_gmt":"2025-11-26T23:25:31","slug":"torquay-bowl-surf-coast-suns-debut-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/torquay-bowl-surf-coast-suns-debut-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"All eyes on Suns\u2019 debut in historic Torquay Bowl"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Surf Coast Suns will make their long-awaited senior league debut in Round 1 of the 2026 Dow Bellarine Football Netball League, opening the season with a full day of clashes against cross-town rivals Torquay.<\/p>\n

The fixture will mark the first edition of the Surf Coast Times Torquay Bowl<\/em>, a new annual match-up celebrating the growing rivalry between the two clubs.<\/p>\n

Hosted at Banyul-Warri Fields on Saturday 4 April, the inaugural Torquay Bowl will feature all grades of netball and both senior and reserve football matches, with plenty of local pride on the line.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a historic occasion for the Suns, who enter the competition for the first time in 2026, and a major early test against an established neighbour with a strong supporter base.<\/p>\n

AFL Barwon released the full 2026 BFL fixture this week, with the Suns\u2013Tigers clash set to be one of the season\u2019s headline openers.<\/p>\n

Another major rematch arrives in Round 6 (Saturday 30 May), with 2025 football grand finalists Anglesea and Geelong Amateur meeting again at Ellimatta Reserve. Anglesea lifted the 2025 premiership with a 14.10 (94) to 12.9 (81) win.<\/p>\n

On the netball court, Ocean Grove will host Geelong Amateur in Round 2 (Saturday 11 April) at Shell Rd Reserve \u2014 a replay of last year\u2019s grand final thriller, won 34 to 33 by the Grubbers.<\/p>\n

In the Geelong Football Netball League, Round 0 kicks off with St Joseph\u2019s v Leopold in Lorne on Saturday 4 April. The 2025 grand final football rematch between St Mary\u2019s and St Joseph\u2019s follows in Round 3 (Saturday 9 May), after St Mary\u2019s claimed the title 10.8 (68) to 7.13 (55).<\/p>\n

Netball rivals Newtown & Chilwell and St Joseph\u2019s will also meet again in Round 11 (Saturday 18 July) after Newtown\u2019s 37 to 25 grand final win.<\/p>\n

The GFL Grand Final will again take place on the AFL Grand Final public holiday, Friday 25 September.<\/p>\n

2026 Dow Bellarine FNL Fixture – Full Fixture<\/a><\/p>\n

2026 Blood Toyota Geelong FNL Fixture – Full Fixture<\/a><\/p>\n

Visit aflbarwon.com.au\/fixtures-ladders<\/a> for full fixture details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Surf Coast Suns will make their long-awaited senior league debut in Round 1 of the 2026 Dow Bellarine Football Netball League, opening the season with a full day of clashes against cross-town rivals Torquay. The fixture will mark the first edition of the Surf Coast Times Torquay Bowl, a new annual match-up celebrating the […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":156,"featured_media":175215,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-175203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAll eyes on Suns\u2019 debut in historic Torquay Bowl - Surf Coast Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Surf Coast Suns debut in the 2026 BFL season, facing Torquay in the first Torquay Bowl in a full day of football and netball action.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/torquay-bowl-surf-coast-suns-debut-2026\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"All eyes on Suns\u2019 debut in historic Torquay Bowl - 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