The 2026 Mid Gippsland Football Netball League Senior footy Grand Final will be a replay of last year’s premiership decider after Fish Creek overcame a spirited Yinnar to prevail 12-10-82 to 7-9-51 in Saturday’s Preliminary Final. With just three points separating the two sides at the last break, Fishy banged home four final term goals while keeping Yinnar off the score sheet to win by thirty-one points.
Wet, windy, and predominately heavy conditions were the order of the day at the Foster Rec Reserve. And when Yinnar won the toss they had no hesitation in kicking to the Sale end of the venue. The early games and general consensus suggested this was the scoring end to the tune of around a three or four goal advantage.
Yinnar’s team of the year forward trio of Kane Grinsted Jones, Will Robertson and Lachy Pratt would have been licking their lips early hoping to take advantage of the conditions. With Tom Valenta, Jack Hayes and Jarrod Walker for coverage, Fish Creek declined to throw a number behind the ball and went head-to-head with the Magpies in the first term.
With Charlie Wilson, Fishy’s gun forward, watching on, it was a surprise to see their second most proficient forward, Tom Cameron, start the game on the pine. Perhaps it was the element of surprise coach Jarrod Walker was looking for but whatever it was it worked with the Kangaroos, albeit rather wasteful, leading at the first break 2-5-17 to 1-2-8.
It took some time for the first goal to be kicked and to the surprise of most it was to the non-scoring end. What wasn’t a surprise was that it was best on ground, and league medal winner, Jackson Wiedemann, who was the man who kicked it. He swooped on to a loose ball and snapped truly across his body to get things underway. This was followed up with another to the same end via Jacob Lamers, who kicked truly after winning a free kick.
Just when it looked like Yinnar might have completely wasted their advantage, Sam Walsh found Mick Geary, probably Yinnar’s best player across their two finals, who marked strongly and kicked truly.
After a dour three goal opening term, the game was blown open in the second with Fishy finding the big sticks five times and Yinnar twice.
Brady Mithcell got things under way for Fish Creek, kicking his sole goal of the day on the back of a free kick before Tom Cameron showed all his poise and class to slip Jackson Wiedemann a perfectly weighted handpass. Running away from the target, Wiedemann threw the ball on his left shoe and snapped truly across his body. The ball pitched mid goal square, knew where it had to go and leant left dissecting the uprights perfectly, sending the Creek out to a twenty-one-point lead.
When this was followed up by a Luke Williams bomb from inside the square after the subsequent stoppage, the alarm bells were ringing in the Yinnar coaches’ box.
With James Jacobsen warming to the task, Yinnar started to win some midfield footy. Jacobsen spotted Sam Walsh in space, and Walsh kicked the ball to the advantage of Ben Skinner. Skinner won the footy at ground level and snapped truly on his non-preferred right foot to sneak one back for the Pies. When Geary kicked his second shortly after, the Pies still trailed but had just a sniff of confidence and a little momentum late in the second term.
Of course, Wiedemann would have none of this and set about kicking his second goal of the day contender. Hard up against the boundary from fifty out, the superstar went bang, and despite the wild wind the goal umpire needed to do nothing more than wave the two white flags.
Not that the Yinnar side were showing any sign of white flags, with Geary kicking his third and getting the margin back to a manageable twenty-three points at the long break.
Youngsters Oli McColl and Harvey McKay were playing well above their years for the Pies and Oli’s brother Harry was Yinnar’s best, cutting off many a Fish Creek forward foray and often turning defence into attack for his side.
At the other end, Jack Hayes, in his trademark long sleeve jersey, was doing the same for Fishy, with Tom Valenta and Jacoib Kenney also proving hard to pass at half back.
After the long break, Yinnar threw Bobby Linton into the ruck and gave Kane Grinstead Jones and Mick Geary some more midfield minutes. Their inclusion in the midfield, combined with Fish Creek coach Jarrod Walker’s decision to rest the Wiedemann lads forward for large parts of the quarter, saw Yinnar surge right back into contention. Having reduced the margin to just three points, Yinnar were streaming into goal again as the siren sounded, but the go-ahead goal was clearly kicked after the hooter and after a four goal to one third term the Pies were within three points. It was game on!
Well, for about five minutes it was.
Yinnar had clearly used many a petrol ticket to get back into the game and with Fish Creek coming home with the breeze the last term was all one-way traffic.
It started with an amazing goal to Tim Gavelock. A long, long kick from centre wing rolled toward the Fish Creek goal. Gavenlock and Harry McColl tracked it for the best part of fifty metres. Stride for stride, McColl seemingly made up ground every stride. Both arrived at the ball as it reached the goal line and Gavenlock nudged it over the line with his out-stretched right foot to give Fishy some breathing space on the scoreboard.
When this was followed up with back-to-back goals at the fifteen-minute mark, the margin was back out to four goals and Fish Creek started to rest players. Not that anyone got much of a rest with several players coming off sore and forcing their team mates back onto the park.
While the bumps didn’t hurt when the final siren sounded, they are likely to be felt tomorrow and for the rest of the week. And with Charlie Wilson already in the sick bay, Fishy will need everyone available to take on Foster next week.
And what of Foster? Well, the Foster senior side watched on behind the glass in their heated social club, seemingly enjoying every minute of the bruising contest.
Statistically speaking the game was as close as you could want. Sam Crane, the Gippsland FM stats man, recorded both sides as laying 112 tackles for the game, an Inside Fifty differential that favoured Yinnar by just seven entries and an overall possession count of where just thirty odd disposals separated the sides across the four quarters.
Fish Creek named Jaicob Kenny, Jackson Wiedemann and Brady Mitchell as their best three with Wiedemann booting three goals, Luke Williams two and singles to Blaine Coates, Tim Gavelck, Jacob Lamers, Brady Mitchell, Harry Smith, and Jai Stefani.
After the game wining coach Jarrad Walker summarised the contest as “a tough game as expected”. Reflecting on the early part of the battle, Walker said that “a good start into the wind helped set up the game”. Asked about his better players, Walker played a straight bat by responding with “across the board everyone played their role and we were able to hit the scoreboard”.
When quizzed about the Yinnar comeback, he said “The third quarter was a tough one with Yinnar coming hard and scoring with the wind. It was really hard to defend and exit our defensive fifty into the wind”.
And on the last term that saw his side win their way through to yet another Grand Final, “to respond and finish the game strongly was really pleasing and a galvanising win”.
Yinnar named Harry McColl, Blake Van Der Meer and James Jacobsen as their best. Mick Geary slotted three with singles to Nixon Hall, Clancy Mills, Lachy Pratt and Ben Skinner.
Post game coach Sam McCulloch was kind enough to reach out with his thoughts starting with “A heartbreaking way to finish our year”.
Reflecting on where the game was won and lost, McCulloch, like his counterpart, went back to the start. “We had the advantage of the wind in the first quarter but unfortunately weren’t able to capitalise on it, which ultimately proved to be the difference”.
“To the boys’ credit,” he continued, “we never gave up and continued to give everything we had, right until the final siren”. “It will be a tough one for the boys to get over, but we’ll stick together, learn from the experience and continue to work hard and improve” McColloch added. Mitchell Berechree
