THE SWOOP - ROUND 10 v WAUBRA

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We had plenty to celebrate on Saturday, retaining the Bing Baker/Laurie Steart Cup at home for the second year in a row.

The wet and challenging conditions made for tough contests throughout the day, but they're the conditions we seem to thrive in. Our footballers embraced the conditions, with the Seniors, Reserves and Under 15s all recording convincing wins.

The Senior Footballers produced one of their most complete performances of the season, controlling the game from start to finish. The Reserves recorded a dominant win, helped by Jasper's 7 goals, while the Under 15s also enjoyed a healthy win of 94 points.

On the netball courts, our junior grades continued their excellent seasons, with every junior team recording a victory. The development and improvement across the junior program continues to be a highlight for the club and is a credit to the players, coaches and volunteers involved. Our U13B's are still undefeated after round 9!

The senior netball grades faced a tough challenge against strong opposition and were unable to come away with the points. While the results didn't fall our way, there was plenty of determination and effort shown throughout the day.

Attention now turns to this weekend as we head to Waubra. This is shaping up to be an exciting opportunity for the Magpies, with plenty of teams well placed to continue their strong form and add to the win column.

When the day is finished, supporters, players and families are strongly encouraged to head back to the Miners Rest Tavern for tea! We want to see some new faces joining the regular crowd!

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NETBALL

Our junior grades continued their outstanding season, with every junior team coming away with a victory. Despite the difficult weather, the girls adapted brilliantly, displaying excellent teamwork, strong defensive pressure and impressive ball movement across all age groups. The continued growth and development of our junior program is a fantastic sign for the future of the club.

The senior grades faced one of the strongest netball programs in the competition and, while the results didn't fall our way, there were still plenty of positives to take from the day. Across all grades, players continued to compete strongly, work hard for one another and show resilience against quality opposition. A huge thank you to the 5 B Grade regulars that stepped up to help A Grade field a side for one of their toughest games.

Wet conditions test decision making, composure and discipline, and our players showed plenty of determination throughout the afternoon. The scoreboard wasn't in our favour, but the effort and commitment from all teams could not be questioned.

This weekend we head to Waubra, where several grades will be looking for wins against a recently struggling netball contingent. With many teams continuing to improve as the season progresses, we're excited for another opportunity to challenge ourselves and hopefully bring home plenty of wins.

Good luck to all teams this weekend and thank you to our coaches, volunteers, scorers and supporters who continue to contribute so much to our netball program each week.

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FOOTBALL

Great day on the oval last week as the Seniors retained the Bing Baker/Laurie Steart Cup with a good 38 point win while the Reserves kicked their highest score in years and Jasper Chatham kicked seven majors in their 113 point victory. Chris Freeman played his first game for the club in the Reserves match and impressed all with his ball winning ability. The U/18 lads fought hard before finally going down by two goals in a tight match and the U/15s recorded another great win by almost 16 goals. The U/12s continue to show improvement as the program being led by Mark Allan engages the kids with a great combination of skill development, participation and fun.

Off to Waubra this week to play one of our nearer neighbours as we aim to get our Seniors ahead on the win/loss record. All grades are playing in winnable games this week with the match of the day possibly the U/15s game pitting our lads, who are currently fifth, against the Roos, who are in eighth. Most weeks we have a new player to welcome to the club and this week is no different as we welcome Jack Lambert back to the club after a decade away and new player Reece Walsh. Both will play in the Reserves and we look forward to seeing them on the field and wish both all the best. 

Late changes to the Seniors have been forced upon us due to untimely and unfortunate shoulder injuries to Joel Radlof and Marshall Murray. Dylan Davies returns to the team after last playing against Bungaree where he showed he can carry much of the ruck load which will allow us to use Shaun Finlayson in other areas. Oli Erickson will return to the Seniors for the first team since mid last year when he missed several games due to injury. Oli has been in good form in the Reserves and we are keen to see him make a contribution on the wing and up forward tomorrow. Most weeks we are using an U/18 player or two to fill out the Reserves team with Brett Coon backing up every week and Benji Featherston and Nick Baulch playing more often than not. Ideally we would not need to use U/18 lads to fill out the Reserves team but the boys do gain a development benefit from playing an open age game while still a junior player. We thank the boys for their commitment each time they fill in and help the club get a full Reserves team on the oval.

Senior Player I’m looking forward to watching this week: Oli Erickson played the first eight games of 2025 in the Seniors despite being eligible for the U/18s. In that time Oli showed that his light frame would not deter him from winning a hard ball and he displayed great potential to become a long term player for Clunes. Unfortunately, Oli got injured and missed the second half of the season. This year he has been playing good footy in the Reserves and has been close to selection for several weeks. This week he gets his chance and I’m expecting to see him make a positive contribution, most likely as part of our wings rotation.

Reserves player I’m looking forward to watching this week: Reece Walsh is our debutant at Reserves level this week and he’s shown at training this week that he’ll be an intense competitor. Reece has played major league football in the past and we’re excited to welcome him and his family to the club.

Junior player I’m looking forward to watching this week: Joe Belcher. Four games in the U/18s, five goals and three times in the best players. Good record, good recruit, good to go against Waubra.

Go Maggies!