This is the first post in the ORFFA 2026 Preliminary finals review thread. I will include an image in each of the first two posts and post the game reviews later. ORFFA 2026 Preliminary finals results (1) Gundagai Grasshoppers 1,433/15 Average 95.5 defeated (7) Wineglass Bay Packers 1,240/15 Average 82.7 (2) Charlies Opening Spelunkers 1,401/15 Average 93.4 Lost to (6) Narrewillock Nuffers 1,503/15 Average 100.2 Zac Dawson Cup 2026 Preliminary finals results (9) Venus Bay Vultures 902 lost to (14) Wagga Wagga Wombats 1,130 (10) Junee Jaguars 1,063 lost to (12) Birdsville Battlers 1,215 The image below provides details of scoring by each position for the eight teams that played in week 2 of the finals.
At the bottom of this post is an image of the ORFFA Preliminary finals history. The image lists each season a club played in an ORFFA preliminary and what the result was, green represents a win and red represents a loss. The 2026 Grand Finalists Gundagai and Nareewillock are in bold. Preliminary finals have been held in 13 of the ORFFA’s 15 seasons from 2012 to 2026. The exceptions when preliminary finals weren’t held were the inaugural 2012 season and the 2020 season impacted by COVID-19. Note: In a later post in this thread all 26 ORFFA preliminary finals scores and results will be listed by season. With preliminary finals being held in 13 seasons and two preliminary finals being played each season there have been a total of 52 preliminary final berths. Nine clubs have made at three least preliminary finals led by the Gundagai Grasshoppers and Cradle Mountain Devils with six PFs each. The Hoppers six prelims have all been in the past decade from 2017 to 2026. No finals were held in 2020 so GGH have made six of a possible nine prelims during this time. Cradle Mountain made six PFs in a shorter time span of eight seasons from 2018 to 2025, resulting in a six of a possible seven PF’s being made with a week one loss to Mount Beauty in 2022 being the exception. The Grasshoppers and CMD have squared preliminary final ledgers with three wins and three losses each. Foul Bay and Venus Bay have each made five preliminary finals to rank equal third. From a win/loss perspective Venus Bay have fared slightly better with three wins and two losses whilst it is the reverse for Foul Bay, two wins and three losses. Foul Bay made the prelim in each of the first three seasons that finals were held from 2013 to 2015. Venus Bay were an ORFFA powerhouse from 2016 to 2022 to make five of a possible six PFs, the exception being a shock loss in week 1 of the 2018 finals to the Devils. Three ORFFA clubs have made four preliminary finals including two with a two win, two loss record, Mount Beauty Uglies and Nareewillock Nuffers. 2026 Grand Finalists the Nuffers made their first prelim in 2023 and now have the longest current streak of four consecutive prelim finals. The Uglies made three consecutive prelims from 2022 to 2024 and an excellent conversion to win back-to-back premierships in the latter two seasons. The Waikickamoocow Incorrigibles have made four preliminary finals for one win in their 2017 premiership winning season and three losses including in back-to-back seasons in 2018 and 2019. Of the five clubs that have made two preliminary finals only two have a squared ledger of one win and one loss, Iron Knob Codpieces and Darraweit Guim Dirigibles (now known as Shark Bay Tigersharks). Two clubs had a 100% strike rate with wins from both their PFs, Larrikin Lagoon Lefties and the Marble Bar Misfits (now known as Junee Jaguars). 15 of the 16 team’s to play in multiple preliminary finals have had at least one victory, the Wineglass Bay Packers (formerly Powlett Plains Packers) are the exception, suffering PF losses in the first season of ORFFA finals in 2013 and the current 2026 season. Two clubs have won in their only preliminary final appearance, the Gariwerd Cockatoos in their premiership winning 2022 season and the Wagga Wagga Wombats in 2014. The Whitsunday Warriors never made the ORFFA finals in their 12 seasons in the FA from 2012 to 2023, having a couple of near misses. Adding further weight to their coach the late TIB's comment that he had never won anything. The Lovely Bank Lilacs have made the finals five times but fell agonisingly short of making the PF in 2024, suffering a narrow loss in the second week of a four week finals series by 25 points to eventual premiers, the Mount Beauty Uglies. 14 clubs making multiple preliminary finals highlights how competitive the ORFFA has been. 11 of these teams have had at least one PF win and on PF loss. The Larrikin Lagoon Lefties made the most of two PF appearances to win the Grand Final in both seasons, 2015 and 2016. Five of the seven teams to make at least four preliminary finals have won at least one Grand Final. As fate has it the two club’s that have not won a Grand Final and have made at least four preliminary finals each play against each other in the 2026 ORFFA Grand Final, @snoz ’s Gundagai Grasshoppers and @chris88 ‘s Nareewillock Nuffers. Snoz has coached Gundagai to six PF berths. Gundagai won the premiership in 2020 but finals weren’t played due to time restrictions in the COVID-19 impacted season. The Nuffers have made the past four prelim’s with Chris as coach. Earlier in his ORFFA coaching career Chris coached Darraweit Guim Dirigibles (now known as Shark Bay Tigersharks) to two PF berths in 2013 and 2015. With the Gundagai Grasshoppers and Nareewillock Nuffers meeting each other in the 2026 Grand Final the victor will get their much deserved first GF win whilst the runner-ups pursuit of their first ORFFA Grand Final victory will continue for at least one more season.
ORFFA 2026 Preliminary final review (1) @snoz's Gundagai Grasshoppers 1,433/15 Average 95.5 defeated (7) @Tracey's Wineglass Bay Packers 1,240/15 Average 82.7 2026 minor premiers, the Gundagai Grasshoppers made a blistering start in a home preliminary final to more than double Wineglass Bay’s score in the first quarter. Led by the ORFFA’s number one ranked player in the five week period from Round 12 to week one of the finals, forward/midfielder Izak Rankine, the Hoppers led the Packers by 221 points, 436 to 215 at quarter time. The Packers formidable defense kicked into gear after quarter time, providing run and carry to set up attacking forays. Wineglass Bay scored over 360 points in each of the second and third quarters to reduce the deficit to 154 points at the last change. Gundagai slowed the pace down in the fourth quarter and outscored the Packers 320 to 279 for the final term to win by 193 points to host the ORFFA Grand Final for the third time in five seasons. With the PF victory the Hoppers extending their winning streak to 17 games which commenced in Round 1 of the 2026 season. Gundagai’s greatest strength is the quality and depth of it’s midfield and this came to the fore in the preliminary final victory against Wineglass Bay. Six Grasshoppers that have midfield eligibility recorded tons, comprised of a trio of starting mids, two mids that started on the interchange and forward/mid Rankine. The quartet of Grasshoppers starting mids scored 373 points to have an advantage of 64 points over their WBP midfield counterparts. A trio of Hoppers mis recorded tons - Jordan Dawson (107), Clayton Oliver (100) and Jai Newcombe (101). Packers M1 George Hewitt (116) was one of three WBP players to score a ton and M2 Tom Sparrow (80) continued his good form after being selected with pick 5 at the 2026 mid-season draft. Grasshoppers midfield duo Patrick Cripps (115) and Oliver Dempsey (104) both reached triple figures after starting on the bench. The most lopsided line was the interchange, won by the Hoppers by 97 points, 219 to the Packers 122. Defender Andrew McGrath (78) accounted for just under two thirds of the Packers interchange score. GGH had the number one ranked interchange in the ORFFA for week 2 of the finals. Across the two ORFFA preliminary finals Wineglass Bay had the number 1 rated defense, scoring a team-high 448 points, 139 points more than the club’s second highest scoring line. The second and third best players on the ground for Wineglass Bay defender duo, Lachie Ash (144) and Josh Daicos (123). Ash had 36 disposals, took 11 marks and 867 metres gained. All four WBP defenders scored at least 90 points and were in their club’s best six players with Ash and Daicos being joined in this category by John Noble (91), Bodhi Uwland (90). The Wineglass Bay defenders won the line battle against the Guundagai by 44 points, 448 to 404. The best player for the game was Grasshoppers forward/midfielder Izak Rankine (157), who had 39 disposals, 10 clearances, kicked a goal and had 719 metres gained. Rankine received excellent support from fellow forward/midfield duo Stephen Coniglio (97) and Jy Simpkin (89) who each scored 85+ SuperCoach points. Gundagai’s defense outscored Wineglass Bay’s forwards 323 to 263 with two players on each line scoring 80+. Lawson Humpries (102) was the Grasshoppers best defender and teammate, key defender Jacob Weitering (82) in his first game back after a calf injury was one of 11 GGH players to score 80+. Packers key forward duo Jacob van Rooyen (86) and Cooper Trembath (82) kicked five goals between them comprised of three for Trembath and two for JvR. Of all rucks in the ORFFA player pool Darcy Cameron ranked first with a five game average of 125.4 entering the preliminary final with Gundagai opponent Brodie Grundy ranked fifth with 107.6 points. In the head-to-head preliminary final contest Grundy took the honours against Cameron 114 to 98. Gundagai won four of the five line battles and won overall by 193 points. The Grasshoppers had one superstar in Rankine and then an even team performance with 10 players in the 80 -115 range. No GGH player had a sub 60 score with the lowest scoring quartet being in the 61-70 bracket. On the flipside five Wineglass Bay players scored less than 60 including two starting midfielders. The Packers six players with the highest averages for 2026 all 90+ were the club’s best half dozen players in the prelim comprised of defender quartet, mid Hewitt and ruck Cameron who all scored at least 90. Quarter by qtr scores GGH WBP 436 Qtr time 215 GGH led by 221 points 745 Half time 578 GGH led by 167 points / WBP won the 2nd qtr 363 to 309 1,115 3 qtr time 961 GGH led by 154 points / WBP won the 3rd qtr 383 to 370 1,433 Full Time 1,240 GGH won by 193 points / GGH won the 4th qtr 320 to 279 Position break down GGH WBP Def 323 Fwd 263 GGH by 60 points Mid 373 Mid 309 GGH by 64 points Ruc 114 Ruc 98 GGH by 16 points Fwd 404 Def 448 WBP by 44 points Int 219 Int 122 GGH by 97 points Total 1,433 Total 1,240 GGH by 193 points GGH tons - 7: Izak Rankine 157, Patrick Cripps 115, Brodie Grundy 114, Jordan Dawson 107, Oliver Dempsey 104, Lawson Humpries 102, Jai Newcombe 101, Clayton Oliver 100. WBP best players: Lachie Ash 144, Josh Daicos 123, George Hewett 116, Darcy Cameron 98, John Noble 91, Bodhi Uwland 90. In their first finals campaign in over a decade it was a difficult assignment for Wineglass Bay to have road games against the two ORFFA clubs that have finished in the top eight for 10 straight seasons from 2017 to 2026, Cradle Mountain and Gundagai. A great experience for the Packers to get a road finals win against the Devils. Wineglass Bay improved as the 2026 season progressed, surging from 12th on the ladder at the mid-season break with a record of three wins and seven losses to win four of their last five home and away games and win a road final. At the 2026 mid-season draft the Packers recruited two players that played both finals for the club later that season, midfielder/forward Tom Sparrow with pick 5 and forward Cooper Trembath with pick 21.