AFL Round 11 – Thursday 22nd May ORFFA Round 10 - Indigenous Round This round marks the second half of the AFL's Sir Douglas Nicholls Round (Rounds?), and carries with it the theme 'Past Legacies, Future Legends'. Sir Douglas' achievements on the sporting field - be it football, athletics or otherwise - pale in comparison to his achievements elsewhere. A great man. And of course it is Reconciliation Week next week, bookended by the anniversary of the 1967 Referendum - a referendum that was the culmination of decades of work headed by many, including Sir Douglas - and Mabo Day. This round, the ORFFA celebrate and commemorate Indigenous heritage and the contributions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to football, and to all things. Cradle Mountain Devils v Gundagai Grasshoppers Venus Bay Vultures v Birdsville Battlers Nareewillock Nuffers v Larrikin Lagoon Lefties Wagga Wagga Wombats v Wineglass Bay Packers Iron Knob Codpieces v Lovely Banks Lilacs Junee Jaguars v Charlies Opening Spelunkers Dunsborough Dung Beetles v Waikickamoocow Incorrigibles Gariwerd Cockatoos v Mount Beauty Uglies
Provisional team to face the wonderful Lefties - D: Idun, Dale, Redman, Clark (Quaynor) M: Rowell, Warner, Serong, Richards R: Sims F: Bedford, West, Higgins, Ross (Langford) I/C: Brown, Keane (Caddy) Short a few good players - hoping for their return after the bye. Will figure out some emergencies, and ruck may change depending on whether Sims remains in the team or if Ryan returns.
Given now I have two ruckman playing - I'm shocked - young Samson Ryan will take over first ruck duties from Mr Sims, who will now act as an emergency.
Cradle Mountain Devils Round 10 team Out: T Nankervis (managed) In: J Lever Def: D Zorko, R Laird, N Vlastuin, J Battle (T McDonald) Mid: J Hopper, J Steele, S Pendlebury, E Langdon (R Ginbey) Ruc: T English Fwd: R Maric, S Mannagh, T Greene, A Naughton (J Cripps) Int: R Marshall, J Lever (S Banks) Cradle Mountain had the best start to an ORFFA season in club history to win their first seven games to equal the club’s second longest winning streak of all-time, tying with seven games to finish the 2021 season, culminating with defeating Venus Bay in the Grand Final to win the premiership. The Devils team featuring Josh Battle in defense had their first loss of 2025 in Round 8 to the Birdsville Battlers by 41 points. CMD returned to the winners list in Round 9, defeating long-time rivals the Gariwerd Cockatoos. CMD have made one change for Round 10 with ruckman Toby Nankervis being managed, defender Jake Lever has returned from an ankle injury to be named as Int 2 for CMD. For the second time in three weeks Cradle Mountain have a clash against a team that is the namesake of a Devils player with CMD M1 Jacob Hopper playing against a Gundagai team with 15 (Grass) Hoppers. The Cradle Mountain Devils and Gundagai Grasshoppers are evenly matched for premiership points in both 2025 and from a historical perspective. The Hoppers and Devils have identical win-loss records of eight wins and one loss this season. @snoz ’s Gundagai are in second place on the ladder due to their superior points for with the Devils in third place. The Grasshoppers rank first with 1,388.4 points per game in 2025. CMD rank second in this category with 1353.8 points per game, 0.9 points per game ahead of Apple-Isle rival, the ladder leading undefeated Charlies Opening Spelunkers with 1,352.9 points per game. Cradle Mountain and Gundagai are attempting to extend their top eight streak to nine consecutive seasons, having each finished in the top 8 in the past eight seasons from 2017 to 2024. In 13 and a half seasons from 2012 to Round 9 2025 the Devils and Grasshoppers each have a tally of 550 premierships points, ranked equal fourth on the ORFFA’s all-time list. Thanks @TheTassieHawk for posting the ORFFA ladder summary spreadsheet each season. The winner of Cradle Mountain’s home encounter against Gundagai will be higher on the 2025 ladder at the end of Round 10 and will also be in outright 4th position for most premiership points in ORFFA history behind the Chickens, Vultures and Cows.
Harry Rowston was a bit outmatched in the ruck for me this week against Gawn! 11 inches difference in height between the two and Gawn manhandled Rowston to outscore him 153 to 2!