The 2022 ORFFF finals series sees the 2016, 2018 and 2021 ORFFF Champions matched with 5 teams chasing first time honours. For the first time 4 non finalists from the previous season have qualified for the top 8 with the experienced Noahs and Virgins returning after 1 season absences while the Bucks and White Pointers are making long awaited finals debuts. The 4 week 1 matches are as follows Mole Creek (UOC) @James84 (14-1, 1st) vs Nangkita @Dale Duivesteyn (10-5, 4th) The teams last played in Round 3 with the Glow-Worms prevailing 1386 to 1319 at home. Final experience favours the reigning champs (3-2 finals record) against the finals debutants. The Bucks are playing with free money this week while the Glow-Worms will aim to lift now the business end of the season has arrived. Neptune Island @That KI Guy (12-3, 2nd) vs Useless Loop @YAD69 (11-4, 3rd) These teams also last played in Round 3 with the Noahs winning 1176 to 1163 on the road. Both teams rebounded strongly this season having missed the finals last campaign but are experienced in the heat of July and August action. Season 1 champs Neptune Island (11-5) have played the most finals while the Virgins (4-5) become the 3rd team to play 10 finals matches. This match is their second finals matchup with the Noahs dispatching the Virgins in the 2017 ORFFF Elimination Final 1431 to 1319. Expect a much more open game than in the regular season, however another close margin would not surprise. Wedge Island @Bearfly (9-6, 5th) vs Rutherglen @tyze1 (8-7, 8th) The teams played a classic match in Round 8 with the Fugs prevailing 1446 to 1419 on the road. The White Pointers are playing their first final and will look to ramp up the pressure against a Fugs side that are 1-6 in matches played under the greatest spotlight. However the bigger monkey belongs firmly on the White Pointer's back with a 0-7 H2H record against this week's opponents with their matches having margins of 82, 174, 241, 278, 31, 48 and 27 - with the average margin at 126 points. Maralinga @Brett Sanders (9-6, 6th) vs Heard Island @anthak (8-7, 7th) The sides played out a thrilling Round 15 match with the Shags securing a finals berth with a tense 1251 to 1222 win on the road. Fast forward 5 days and they will clash again with the Atoms looking to turn the tables. Both are are highly experienced at this stage of the season with the 2018 champion Atoms (4-4) boasting a superior finals record to the 1-3 Shags. Best of luck to all sides over the coming 4 weeks as they each seek to secure the holy grail.
Thanks for the preview. Great stuff. Looking forward to it! Shags just snuck in by the skin of our teeth
After a nail biting game last week, we meet again in the first week of the finals series! Not resting on our laurels, Heard Island have made a couple changes: Out: Riley Bonner, Patrick Ryder. In: Jaidyn Stephenson, Ivan Soldo. And here is how the team will lineup, from the backline: DEF: Jake Lloyd, Luke Ryan, Nick Blakey, Brayden Maynard (Aidan Corr) MID: Jack Sinclair, Tom Mitchell, Trent Cotchin, Nathan Fyfe (Nathan Murphy) RUCK: Ivan Soldo FWD: Taylor Walker, Lance Franklin, Alex Neal-Bullen, Jake Stringer (Shane Edwards) INT: Brandon Ellis, Jaidyn Stephenson (Buku Khamis)
Finals time! Good luck to all, as the inevitable late season injuries and omissions stack up we have a few first team selections missing but look forward to some of our fringe players finding form at the right time of the season. Mole Creek Glow-Worms DEF: Short, Saad, Pendlebury, Ridley (Atkins) MID: Laird, Petracca, McCluggage, Sidebottom (Rayner) RUC: Darcy FOR: Brodie, Heeney, Rioli, Curnow (Darling) INT: Dangerfield, Greene (Rankine)
who are your fringe players? Pretty much all of your 15 would be walk-up starts in any other team lol
Finals Week 1 - Useless Loop Virgins Def: Steven May, Liam Baker, Brennan Cox, James Sicily (Isaac Quaynor) Mid: Lachie Neale, David Mundy, Isaac Smith, James Jordon (Ben Hobbs) Ruck: Rhys Stanley (Cameron Zurhaar*) Fwd: Errol Gulden, Josh Battle, Aaron Naughton, Zak Butters (Daniel McStay) Int: Lewis Young, Griffin Logue
Anthak telling the truth there! Nervous game for me, hard to imagine MCG has a weakened Mid with J Kelly being out..
Good luck everyone! First final game for me here. Going up against a really talented squad. Hopefully my boys find a bit of form. Counting on straight shooting from the key forwards! Hopefully Kelly out and one game means Hopper has dusted out the cobwebs Def: Sam Docherty, Paddy McCartin, Will Day, Bailey Dale (Jake Kelly) Mid: Jacob Hopper, Patrick Cripps, Jarryd Lyons, Noah Anderson (Jase Burgoyne) Ruck: Rowan Marshall Forward: Charlie Cameron, Adam Treloar, Ben Ainsworth, Max King (Riley Thilthorpe) Int: Ed Langdon, Jaeger O'Meara (Mitchell Hinge)
Noahs tackling the Virgins Def - Rich, Dawson, Brayshaw, Newman (Clark) Mid - Viney, Warner, Duncan, Gaff (Gresham) Ruc- Gawn Fwd - Libba, Parker, Moore, Wright (Fisher) IC - McDonald, Drew (Wilkie)
Shags only have three left to play, compared to the Atoms who have two extra players to try to make up the 332 point deficit. Maralinga Atoms 656/10/65.6 DEFENDERS Shannon Hurn 0 Ryan Burton 113 Jack Lukosius 58 Thomas Jonas 75 (Connor Idun 0) MIDFIELDERS Brad Crouch 0 Jack Redden 0 Timothy Kelly 0 Jarrod Berry 43 (Greg Clark 0) RUCKS Todd Goldstein 75 FORWARDS Josh Dunkley 67 Stephen Coniglio 0 Lachlan Schultz 49 Matthew Taberner 50 (Mitchell Georgiades 62) INTERCHANGE Ben McEvoy 85 Max Holmes 41 (Wayne Milera 51) VS Heard Island Shags 988/12/82.3 DEFENDERS Jake Lloyd 65 Luke Ryan 128 Nick Blakey 97 Brayden Maynard 0 (Aidan Corr 41) MIDFIELDERS Jack Sinclair 0 Tom Mitchell 125 Trent Cotchin 65 Nathan Fyfe 32 (Nathan Murphy 0) RUCKS Ivan Soldo 67 FORWARDS Taylor Walker 54 Lance Franklin 93 Alex Neal-Bullen 71 Jake Stringer 0 (Shane Edwards 34) INTERCHANGE Brandon Ellis 121 Jaidyn Stephenson 70 (Buku Khamis 60)
Pretty tight at Mole Creek, both sides have big names to come, and have seen some real dud performances. Nangkita have a slender lead 10/837 (83.7) to the homesides 9/785 (87.2) Players to come: MCG: Saad, Curnow, Greene, Pendles, Ridley, Sidebottom NKB: Docherty, Cripps, Hopper, Marshall, King
@Bearfly the White Pointers have gone hard early and take the lead in to Sunday... can they hold on? WIWP 944/13/72 + Walsh and Barrass Fugs 648/8/81 + Redman, Howe, Shiel, Durham, Draper, McCreery & Hoskin Elliott its going down to the wire
Great match mate and commiserations. A few sub par efforts and a Stanley injury def had you on the back foot. Plenty of kids strutting their stuff to keep the future shining for the Virgins. Happy to see some return to form for big Maxy but injuries to Rich and Gresham will test our depth next week. Chum On!
After some of the worst football both sides have played this season it appears Mole Creek have snuck home. Mole Creek 1285 Nangkita 1244
The First Qualifying Final was a tight and tactical affair as the Bucks limited Mole Creek to a sub 1300 total for the first time this season, and gave their all throughout the contest before falling short by 41 points. The Second Qualifying Final resulted in a blowout win to Noahs by 192 as the Virgins struggled to handle the pressure cooker of finals football. A prematch decision by the 2IC of the White Pointers Grounds crew to put the sprinklers on after Thursday night training misfired when after a few too many frothies they forgot to turn them off again and Wedge Island Oval subsequently resembled the Splendour in Grass car park at the opening bounce of the First Elimination Final. In a true mid July slog the game was in the balance before the home side launched a successful attack in the final moments to grasp victory by 25 points and bring the Fugitives 2022 season to a heartbreaking finish. The Wedgies also notched their first win against Rutherglen, improving the H2H record between the two teams to 1-7 all time. The Second Elimination Final at Maralinga was another one sided match as the Shags coasted to a 133 point victory to end the home side’s season. Next week sees the Bucks hosting Wedge Island and the Virgins hosting the Shags, with the winners travelling to Neptune Island and Mole Creek (respectively) in preliminary final week.