BUNDOORA, VIC. (NFNL HQ). — It has come down to the wire as three teams in Reservoir, Watsonia and Heidelberg West fight for the final two spots in the five as Round 18 of the Northern Football Netball League’s Division 3 gets underway this afternoon.
Ivanhoe, Laurimar and Mernda have officially finished first, second and third, with Laurimar having the bye before facing Mernda in the first week of the finals.
Reservoir, Watsonia and Heidelberg West are in fourth, fifth and sixth places respectively with eight wins, with Kilmore a further game back.
Kilmore plays Mernda at JJ Clancy Reserve and is now effectively eliminated from the finals race. The upset win over Heidelberg West in Round 15 gave them a slim hope of playing finals, but the fighting loss against Watsonia last weekend slammed the door shut. Nonetheless, their fans would love to see them defeat a contender to end the season on a high.
The Demons will use this match to tune up for their finals campaign. They will be without star ruckman Billy Morrison who was suspended after the Watsonia match. He will miss this contest and the first two finals games. If his club can win at least one finals game, he can return for either the grand final or the preliminary. Compounding the loss of Morrison is that obvious replacement Lincoln Coffey is out injured. Declan Felle stepped up to do the bulk of the ruckwork last weekend.
Mernda have now won four on the trot and would love to hit the post-season with that winning run continuing. Their fans will be expecting a victory.
Ivanhoe ends the regular season with back-to-back games at Ivanhoe Park when taking on Epping. This match has little relevance to the ladder, as the Blues are out of contention and the Hoers have already clinched the number one spot.
Of great significance is that Ivanhoe can become just the second team in the history of the division to go through the entire regular season undefeated. Thomastown in 2014 and Panton Hill in 2019 lost a solitary regular season game before going on to win their flags. The Stars made it a clean sweep of the regular season last year, then lost a final on the way to their premiership.
Based on recent form, they will be hot favourites to win this one. The Blues are coming off the bye and would be keen to put in a good effort as they look to 2027. With Patrick Fitzgerald having reached 67 goals and his team having a bye, the race is on for second spot on the goal-kicking table. Epping’s Daniel Rakhlin has 51 majors, just one behind Aaron Edwards. Blues players would be keen to look for Rakhlin when they can.
Heidelberg West takes on Lalor at Heidelberg Park. The simple equation for the Hawks is to win and hope that at least one of Reservoir and Watsonia loses. If so, they will play finals for the first time ever. Otherwise, they need to win by a monstrous amount in order to overtake a team above them. The maths varies with different scores, but a 61-60 win by Watsonia and a 240-33 triumph would be just enough to put Heidelberg West into fifth spot.
It’s a tough assignment. With the Watsonia game only starting as the Hawks finish, they will have to give their all and then hope for the best. But any win will see them rise from 3-13 last season to a much-improved 9-7 in 2026.
It has been a tough year for the Bloods. It began on Good Friday and they have not been able to register a victory from that time onwards. Their fans would love to see the team make a game of it for as long as possible, but given the Hawks have everything to play for this is a tough assignment to close out the season.
Old Eltham Collegians and Reservoir clash at Eltham College. The Mustangs only need to win to be playing finals for the first time since their premiership year of 2015. They did not field a team in 2016 and then were cellar-dwellers for several years after that. They improved to 6-10 last season under Rohan Davies and have moved further up the ladder this year.
While most pundits will be tipping them, Reservoir will need to snap a three-game losing streak and win away from home. The omissions of Cotchin, Hurley, Dyson and question marks on the fitness of Bachar Houli will make the task a lot harder than what it may have been if those three (and possibly four) were available.
The Turtles followed a big win over Lalor with a competitive loss at Kilmore to the Blues before having the bye. The team will be fresh and looking to spoil the party for the Mustangs. Fans of the Hawks will be closely monitoring the scores in this vital contest.
Kinglake and Watsonia play the late game beginning at 4.35pm at Binnak Park. The Saints will be going into the match expecting to need a win to qualify for finals. A loss would mean they would need Lalor to cause a huge upset in defeating Heidelberg West. If the Hawks manage to pull off an unlikely huge win, then they would need to win and check the live ladder throughout the evening.
Watsonia should be buoyed by the ability to wrest back the lead from Kilmore last weekend at the same venue and be good enough to get the job done. They look like being significant favourites in the contest.
The Lakers have one positive coming into the game. After being on the road for seven weeks straight since their round 9 bye, they had the benefit of a week off last Saturday.
The team will come into this game fresh and would fancy their chances to throw out a challenge to the Saints.
The fight for spots in the final five looks likely to go down to the very last game in the final round of a wonderful weekend of football.
