ORFFA Round 7, 2026 (AFL Round 9) Review – Part 1 As has been the case with some of my previous ORFFA round reviews the Round 7, 2026 edition will be posted in multiple parts. The review of the eight games themselves will be posted later in the week and are largely focused on the players that scored 120 + SuperCoach points or recorded ORFFA team-highs in Round 7. @Bandit's greedy Spelunkers had two players that ranked first on their line overall in the ORFFA for Round 7 – midfielder Marcus Bontempelli who was the top ranked player for the round overall with 163 points and ruck Luke Jackson (141). @snoz' sGundagai Grasshopper forward/midfielder Izak Rankine was the top ranked forward with 149 points. Bontempelli, Jackson and Rankine were all first round PSD picks, however Rankine is at his second club, having been traded by the Lefties. For the 2026 season the Bont and Jackson are the number two ranked midfielder and ruck respectively for points per game whilst Rankine is ranked 24th among forwards. Defenders led the way with 10 of the 26 120+ plus scores in Round 7 and there were several draft bargains is this group including Archie Roberts who scored 151 to rank first among defenders for the round and ranks first for the season with an average of 115 points. With an extremely astute pick @Jen ’s Lilacs selected Roberts with pick 55 at the 2024 PSD. Points for ranking after Round 7 This post includes an image with the 16 ORFFA clubs sorted by their points for ranking after Round 7. Several other columns from the ladder have been included and I have added two columns, change from points for to ladder rank and points for difference to ave. After Round 7 of the 2026 ORFFA season the average points for per club is 8,285 which works out to 1,183.6 points per game, an average of 78.9 points per game for each player in a 15 player ORFFA team. The team closest to this average are @chris88 ’s Nareewillock Nuffers who are averaging 1,186.3 points per game +2.7 points on the average. It was a close fought battle in terms of nearest to the pin of 1,184 in Round 7. @That KI Guy ’s Lefties finished closest, just two points away with a tally of 1,186 whilst @graeme ’s Cows fell just short of this mark with a score four points shy of this mark, 1,180. @JC ’s Battlers were two points behind the Cows on 1,178 points. Four clubs are averaging less than 35.0 points per game more than the average score of 1,183.6 with the teams joining the Nuffers in this category being the Devils (+32.0), Lefties (+15.8) and Packers (+11.7). Six teams have an average less than 40.0 points per game below the average being Cows (-17.3), Battlers (-22.2), Uglies (-25.6), Tigersharks (-27.7), Wombats (-30.0) and Lilacs (-39.9). It is amazing that on the points for rankings only 71.9 points per game separate the fourth ranked Cradle Mountain (1,215.6 points per game) and the 13th ranked Lovely Bank Lilacs (1,143.7). This equates to a variance of just under five points per player across the 15 player teams. When the two clubs played a head to head game in Round 3 the swing was far greater than this and the Lilacs had a 111 point victory over CMD, 1,144 to 1,033. In terms of points for the gap of 191.3 points per game from the top placed Spelunkers to the fourth placed Devils is actually more than the 170.9 point gap from the Devils to the last placed Codpieces. For the top five teams and bottom two teams on the points for ranking there is a strong correlation between ladder position and points for ranking. Three clubs in these ranges have the same position on both, Charlies Opening (1st), Gundagai Grasshoppers (2nd) and Iron Knob (16th). Three clubs near the top or bottom of the ladder are one position higher on the ladder than their points for ranking, Cradle Mountain (3rd on the ladder), Larrikin Lagoon (4th) and Venus Bay Vultures (14th). Gariwerd Cockatoos drop slightly on the ladder to fifth whilst ranking third for points for. Two clubs in the middle of the ladder are one position higher on their ladder than their points for ranking – Mount Beauty in ninth position on the ladder followed by Shark Bay in 10th. In Australian Rules Football the bounce of an oval shaped ball can lead to some unexpected and unusual results. The ORRFA ladder is following suit and seven clubs have a points for rank that is four or more positions different to their ladder rank after Round 7. For the teams ranked sixth to ninth and 12th to 14th on the points for ranking their ranking in this category has a weak correlation to their ladder position. The quartet of clubs from sixth to ninth on the points for ranking – Wineglass Bay Packers (6th), Nareewillock Nuffers (7th), Waikickamoocow Incorrigibles (8th) and the Birdsville Battlers (9th) have all slid down a snake to be at least four positions lower on the ladder and due to this have their ladder position in red. Conversely luck has been on the side of the teams 12th to 14th on the points for ranking – Wagga Wagga Wombats (12th), Lovely Bank Lilacs (13th) and Junee Jets (14th) with this trio of clubs all being six positions higher on the ladder resulting in their ladder position being green. The Wombats are sixth on the ladder and average 1,153.6 points per game, 41.7 points less than the 11th placed Packers with 1,195.3 points per game. In comparison the biggest difference between points for ranking and ladder position at the end of the 2025 home and away season was three places with the Gariwerd Cockatoos and Wineglass Bay Packers swapping places. The Packers ranked sixth for point for with 1,238.7 points per game, 102.6 points ahead of the Cockatoos 1,136.1 points per game to rank ninth in this category. Gariwerd had the ascendancy on the ladder, finishing sixth with 10 wins and five losses, 10 premiership points ahead of Wineglass Bay who managed to square their ledger even with an odd number of games, finishing ninth with seven wins, seven losses and one draw. All other 14 ORFFA clubs finished 2015 with a points for ranking within two places of their ladder position. The points for gap from fourth to 13th at the end of the 2025 home and away season was 160.2 points, more than double the gap from 4th to 13th after Round 7, 2026. In 2025 the Nuffers ranked 4th with 1,265.5 points per game whilst the 13th ranked Iron Knob Codpieces tallied 1,105.3 points per game. I would expect that as the 2026 season progresses and each club ends up playing each of their rivals once during the home and away season the variances between points for and ladder position will reduce. However with the teams from fourth to 13th being separated by less than 75.0 points per game the likelihood of the team with an inferior points for to that round’s opponent having a victory is more likely than in a typical ORFFA season. Whilst the highest scoring players are recognised the ORFFA is also good at celebrating mediocrity. For several years @anthak ’s Gariwerd Cockatoos and my Cradle Mountain Devils even battled it out for the mediocrity cup in head to head battles between the clubs. At the end of Round 7 of the 2026 season two players have averaged the average ORFFA player score of 78.9 points per game Larrikin Lagoon Lefties forward/midfielder Brayden Cook and Cradle Mountain Devils forward/midfielder Darcy Wilson. Maybe it is a carry-over from the mediocrity cup days but the first ORFFA club to draft these two players was my Devils. With pick 34 in the 2021 PSD Cradle Mountain selected forward/midfielder Brayden Cook. After three seasons the Devils delisted Cook in the 2024 pre-season. At the 2024 PSD the Devils selected forward/midfielder Darcy Wilson with pick 10, resulting in Wilson effectively replacing Cook on the CMD list. In the 2026 pre-season the Lefties recruited free-agent Cook with PSD pick 50.
Some mighty impressive analysis there @dmandrews . The vagaries of the FIXture list mean WKI has already played the top 2 teams. In round 4 we were beaten by COP (1397 v 1368). We would have had a 100+ point win against any other team. Then in round 7 we were smashed (1471 v 1137 ) by GGH. The 'hoppers scored the highest points for for the round by >100, while we were within 46 points of the average score. By way of contrast, our next two fixtures are against VBV and BIB (14th and 13th respectively. Which I think reinforces your point about the deeper we go into the fixture list the more even table positions compared to points for will become. One further observation. Some of the cows have very variable scores. I am unsure what the average is, but I suspect the average would be <20. WKI has 12 of its regular team (including emergencies) players above a standard deviation of 20. Zac Bailey (std dev 29) heads that list .
ORFFA Round 7, 2026 (AFL Round 9) Review – Part 2 At the bottom of this post is an image ranking the 16 ORFFA clubs by points for in Round 7, other columns include points against, result and points difference to the average score of the round. A breakdown of each clubs score by the five lines – defense, midfield, ruck, forward and interchange is included. Each club’s donuts, late in and late in scores are listed when applicable. In the eight games over Round 7 the 16 ORFFA clubs amassed 19,328 SuperCoach points at an average of 1,208 points per team which equates to 80.5 points for each player in a 15 man team. ORFFA average team score for Round 7 Closest to Average Defense 335.8 Gundagai Grasshoppers 321 Midfield 326.2 Waikickamoocow Incorrigibles 314 Ruck 74.9 Birdsville Battlers 75 Forward 310.3 Nareewillock Nuffers 309 Interchange 160.9 Mount Beauty Uglies 159 Total 1,208.0 Nareewillock Nuffers 1,208 The ORFFA average team score of 1,208 for Round 7 is 24.4 points higher than the 2026 average team round score of 1,183.6. After Round 3 teams were averaging 1,161.1 points per game. 60 players across the ORFFA player pool including free agents gained dual-position eligibility after Round 3. This provided coaches with greater flexibility in spinning the magnets for selection of their 15 player ORFFA team and contributed to slighhtly increased scoring. At the end of the 2025 ORFFA home and away season the average ORFFA team score for a round was 1,184.4 points per game, just 0.8 points higher than the 2026 average after Round 7. If the trend of higher scores from Round 4 to Round 7 continues the 2026 average will rise above the 2025 average after Round 8 and might be able to reach 1,200 points. I expected the midfield to be the highest averaging starting line in the ORFFA, however it was the defenders who finished on top with an average of 335.8 points per team at 83.9 points per player, just ahead of the midfielder line with 326.2 points per game at 81.5 points per player. The interchange average of 80.5 points per player ranked third ahead of forwards (77.6) in fourth position and ruck (74.9) in last. The range from highest position average of 83.9 points per players for defenders to lowest position average of 74.9 for the ruck, being 9.0 points per player is smaller than I expected. The Nuffers were the team that got closest to matching an average Round 7 ORFFA line score with the Nareewillock starting forward quartet scoring 309 points, 1.3 points less than the average of 310.3. The Nuffers Round 7 team score of 1,208 matched the average team score across all 16 teams. Other lines which were closest to the team average for a line were Grasshoppers defenders, Battlers ruck and Uglies Interchange. Nine teams had at least one late out In Round 7 with three clubs having two late outs resulting in a total of 12 late outs in the ORFFA. Seven of these late outs were replaced with a late inclusion whilst another five late outs were unable to be replaced by an emergency resulting in the team being short one player and scoring a donut in that position. The Round 7 donut five-pack across the ORFFA was comprised of one defender, two midfielders, one ruck and one forward. The varying results of the trio of clubs that had a pair of late outs highlights the importance of having emergencies that are ready to play and can be called upon if there is a late withdrawal. The Gundagai Grasshoppers had the misfortune of having two late withdrawals on the same line – the forward line. Calsher Dear and Charlie Curnow were both late outs, Grasshoppers forward emergency Beau McCreary scored 53 points. Iron Knob had two late outs which were both able to be replaced with an emergency. Due to each team being able to name a maximum of four emergencies across the five lines the line least likely to have emergency cover is the single player ruck line. Jarrod Witts was a late out for Iron Knob, but by being one of the four teams that had a ruck emergency they were able to bring in a replacement. Ruck/forward Bailey Williams came into the side and scored 73 points. In the forward line Mabier Chol was a late withdrawal and the emergency forward Zac Williams scored 38. Iron Knob’s two late ins scored a total of 112 points at an average of 56 points per player. The Venus Bay Vultures two late outs were a pair of midfielder/defenders Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera and Bo Allan who average 103 points per game and 52 points per game respectively. Fellow D/M Caleb Windsor replaced Alan in defense and Jagga Smith replaced NWM. In a superb result for the Vultures both late inclusions scored more than the average of the player they replaced. Windsor scored 80 points and Smith was phenomenal, scoring a Vultures team-high 104 points. The seven late ins across the ORFFA scored 514 points at an average of 73.4 points per player. Amazingly two of the late ins weren’t just solid role players for their team but thrived with the late call-up to reach triple figures and be there club’s highest scoring players for the round. The player joining Smith in this category was Junee Jaguars defender Ben Miller who scored 106 points. Round 7 scores by starting position in the ORRFA The top five clubs for each position in Round 7 are listed below. Defense Rank Team Score 1 Wineglass Bay Packers 465 2 Shark Bay Tigersharks 429 3 Lovely Bank Lilacs 407 4 Charlies Opening Spelunkers 402 5 Cradle Mountain Devils 387 The Wineglass Bay Packers led the way with 465 points in defense which was also the highest overall line score in the ORFFA for the round. The gap from the highest team defense score to the lowest team defense score of 279 by the Battlers was 186 points which equates to 46.5 points per player. This was the smallets range across all positions in Round 7 of the ORFFA. Four starting defender quartets scored 400+ points with the Packers joined in this category by Shark Bay Tigersharks (429), Lovely Bank Lilacs (407) and Charlies Opening Spelunkers (402). The top five defense was rounded out by the Cradle Mountain Devils with 387 points. Midfield Team Score 1 Charlies Opening Spelunkers 425 2 Gundagai Grasshoppers 415 3 Cradle Mountain Devils 408 4 Nareewillock Nuffers 405 5 Mount Beauty Uglies 397 A quartet of teams scored 400+ points in the midfield with reigning premier Charlies Opening Spelunkers ranked first with 425 points. They were closely followed by Gundagai Grasshoppers (415), Cradle Mountain Devils (408) and Nareewillock Nuffers (405). The Mount Beauty Uglies ranked fifth in the midfield with 397 points to be just three points shy of averaging 100 points per player in the midfield. The top five midfields for Round 7 all ranked in the top seven for highest team score of the round. The correlation to being ranked in the top five and performing well with your overall team score was higher in the midfield than any other line. The ORFFA clubs that had the top four ranked midfields for Round 7 of the 2026 season were the four teams that made the ORFFA preliminary final in 2025. The range from the highest ranking midfield in the Spelunkers to the midfield team low of 163 points by the Shark Bay Tigersharks was 262 points which is 65.5 points per player. Ruck Team Score 1 Charlies Opening Spelunkers 141 2 Mount Beauty Uglies 134 3 Cradle Mountain Devils 103 4 Gundagai Grasshoppers 96 5 Venus Bay Vultures 92 With the ruck comprised of a solitary player the variation for this line is likely to be greater than the multi player lines and this rang true in Round 7.It isn’t always the case in the ORFFA but for Round 7 there was a strong correlation between having a dominant ruckman and a high performing midfield. The clubs that ranked in the top four for starting ruck in Round 7 were also ranked in the top 5 for midfield line score indicating that this quartet of rucks – Luke Jackson (141-Spelunkers), Max Gawn (134-Uglies), Tim English (103-Devils) and Brodie Grundy (96-Grasshoppers) were providing great service for their respective midfields. The Vultures Darcy Fort was the fifth ranked ruck with 92 points. Five starting rucks had sub 55 scores including a donut for Shark Bay. One thing we didn’t see in Round 7 was an out of position (OOP) player starting in the ruck and in fact there were no OOP’s across the 13 starting position on the ground for the ORFFA teams. Forwards Team Score 1 Waikickamoocow Incorrigibles 376 2 Birdsville Battlers 361 3 Gariwerd Cockatoos 359 4 Cradle Mountain Devils 357 5 Wineglass Bay Packers 355 The Waikickamoocow Incorrigibles ranked first among forward line starting quartets with a tally of 376 points. Making this feat even more impressive is the fact that three of the Cows starting forwards for Round 7 weren’t even at the Cows 24 months ago. A trio of Cows starting forwards were selected at the 2025 PSD, Murphy Reid, Shannon Neale and Logan Morris. The Cows highest ranked forward Josh Treacy has only been a regular in the side from 2024 onwards. Only six points separated the second ranked forward line and the fifth ranked forward line. The teams in this category were Birdsville Battlers(361) and Gariwerd Cockatoos(359) followed by Cradle Mountain Devils (357) and Wineglass Bay Packers (355). The range from the Cows top ranked forward line to the 16th ranked forward line, the Lovely Bank Lilacs (178) was 198 points which is 49.5 points per player. Interchange Team Score Int positions 1 Cradle Mountain Devils 218 F/M Def 2 Gariwerd Cockatoos 215 Def F/R 3 Shark Bay Tigersharks 204 Mid Mid 4 Iron Knob Codpieces 194 Mid Def 5 Gundagai Grasshoppers 193 Mid Mid With the 13 on-field positions locked in as four defenders, four midfielders, one ruck and four forwards the ability to have two players from any position on the benches provides flexibility for ORFFA coaches in how they structure their team. Although there were five donuts in Round 7 across the ORFFA none of these were on the interchange, the full complement of 32 interchange players in the FA for the round. T Below is a breakdown of these 32 interchange players by position. Mid 11 Def 8 Ruc 3 F/R 3 Fwd 3 D/M 2 F/M 2 Total 32 A wide range of combinations were used on the interchange by ORFFA teams during Round 7 but the most popular positions to start on the bench were midfielders and defenders with 11 players and eight players respectively. Five clubs started their Round 7 game with two players on the interchange that play the same position including three clubs that started with a duo of midfielders. The three clubs that started two mids on the bench were Gundagai, Shark Bay and Junee Jaguars. The Nuffers started with two defenders on the bench and the Cows had a very different strategy, starting two pure forwards – Tom Papley and Mitch Owens. The other 15 clubs between them had less pure forwards starting on the bench than the Cows. The only other pure forward to start on the interchange across the ORFFA in Round 7 was Cooper Sharman for the Lefties. The Venus Bay Vultures were the only club that covered all four bases with their starting interchange for Round 7, having veteran defender/midfielder Luke Parker starting alongside first year forward/ruck Cooper Duff-Tytler. Cradle Mountain had the highest ranked interchange for Round 7 with 218 points and were one of three benches to score 200+ along with Gariwerd Cockatoos (215) and Shark Bay Tigersharks (204). Iron Knob Codpieces (194) and Gundagai Grasshoppers (193) had the fourth and fifth ranked starting interchanges respectively for Round 7. Sorry I haven't posted the actual game reviews for Round 7 yet. With the Round 7 ladder being very different to points for rank and with defenders not midfielders leading the way for 120+ scores I wanted to dig a bit deeper on these two aspects. I am about to leave home to head in to Marvel Stadium for St Kilda vs Richmond. I will do some more work on the game reviews for Round 7 tonight.