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.