General News
22 May, 2025
Juniors take to Portland for Interleague carnival
Junior football representatives from both the Wimmera Football Netball League and Horsham District Football Netball League participated in the South West District Football Netball League’s Junior Carnival in Portland on Sunday.
Each league fielded teams in the Under 14 mixed competition and Under 17 boys competition, where they played against representative sides from Hampden East, Hampden West, Warrnambool, Mininera, Kowree Naracoorte Tatiara and the South West Districts.
Hampden West were champions in each division.
Coaches for the teams included Kyle George (WFNL Under 14s), Jarrod Illig (WFNL Under 17s), Tom Dunn (HDFNL Under 14s), and Chris Meyer and Ryan Gebert (HDFNL Under 17s).
In the Under 14s competition took place at Hanlon Park and Alexandra Park, where the Wimmera Football Netball League side finished third with two wins and one loss, narrowly missing the grand final, while Horsham District Football Netball League came fifth.
The Under 17s competition, played at Flinders Park and Henty Park, saw the Wimmera League team finish with a 2-2 record to place fourth, while the Horsham District team were unable to get a win and placed eighth.
In the Under 14s, Wimmera Football Netball League’s Ryder Belcher earned best player nominations in all games as well as kicking three goals, while Harry Lomax stood out with four goals across the games.
Joel Plazzer and Rory Hudson each earned multiple best player accolades for the Horsham District Under 14s.
Coach Jarrod Illig, also a player for Stawell Warriors senior football side, was pleased with the efforts from the Wimmera Under 17s side.
“I was pretty happy with how we went, and we had improvement on last year,” Illig said.
“We won our first two games, then lost to Hampden West, before losing to Hampden East in a really tight game, so it was good to see us compete with the best teams.”
Illig identified Horsham Saints’ Jack Henry, Nhill’s Jobe Dickinson, and Ararat’s Sam Preston as standout players for the team.
For the Horsham League Under 17s, Link Smith and Jye Dolan were among the team’s best across the games.