Sport
13 June, 2026
NORTH CENTRAL: Mixed bag of results so far
NINE weeks after the beginning of the North Central football and netball season, teams have played six matches and had three league-wide weekend byes.
NINE weeks after the beginning of the North Central football and netball season, teams have played six matches and had three league-wide weekend byes.
The stop-start progress has some coaches frustrated and others welcoming a fixture that offers so many opportunities to rest and recover.
The North Central season is a stark contrast to the Loddon Valley’s, where teams get only one bye for the year, a split round focused on Inglewood’s 150th anniversary, celebrated last weekend.
There is one more general bye to come during the winter school holidays in three weeks’ time, before a seven-week uninterrupted run to the finals.
That stretch of consecutive matches - which could be as many as 10 in a row if a team progresses through three finals - will test bodies and minds that have become used to regular breaks.
This Saturday’s round is the last before teams start meeting each other again, so it’s a good time to assess the season’s progress and what might happen from here on.
Wedderburn sits atop both senior football and A Grade netball ladders, both teams undefeated.
The Redbacks’ perfect season so far is no surprise on the netball front given that the
A Grade team went though 2025 unbeaten, but the football team’s renaissance after missing last year’s finals was less certain.
An off-season of clever recruiting has Wedderburn as favourites for the flat after being the only other unbeaten team, Sea Lake Nandaly, in round six.
Three teams have cleared out from the pack in senior footy, with last season’s premiers Calder United having lost only one game and third on the ladder. The Tigers’ and Lions’ only losses this year have been to Wedderburn.
The side the Lions defeated in the grand final, Birchip Watchem, has had a mixed start to the year with a 3-3 record, but sits one game and more than 50 per cent ahead of Donald in fifth.
The Royal Blues have been the great improvers in 2026 after being winless last season, and they have been competitive in almost every match.
Charlton’s season has been cheerless in both senior football and A Grade netball, but former AFL star Dane Swan’s appearance this Saturday has boosted morale around the club.
Coach Carl Thiesz used his contacts to organise the Brownlow Medal winner’s appearance against Boort - a great ex-Magpie playing against the local Magpies.
In netball, St Arnaud’s withdrawal from A Grade has meant even more byes for the players - with league-wide byes added, up to nine weekends off over the full season.
Wedderburn will not play this coming Saturday, when it was scheduled to meet the Saints, with coach Meg Lowry ramping up training and organising a scratch match to ensure her players stay match-fit.
Boort and Birchip Watchem have emerged as the Redbacks’ biggest challengers, each with a 3-2 record.
However, Wedderburn’s great experience and depth of talent sees the team as unbackable favourites.
Should the Redbacks manage to take out both premierships to add to the cricket team’s flag in the Upper Loddon Cricket Association in 2025-25, the red and black colours will be flying high.
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