We reveal who has the best Ballarat FNL draw in 2024

Several clubs will be rubbing their hands together with their 2024 Ballarat league draw while others would be frustrated. Here are the winners and losers for the 2024 season.

The BFNL fixtures winners and losers can be revealed. Picture: Hamish Blair

For the second-consecutive season, the bottom two sides in the Ballarat Football Netball League will play each other only once and instead play two matches against the team with the healthiest home-and-away percentage from last season.

With 11 sides competing in a 16-game season, BFNL clubs will play six “double-up” matches over the final seven rounds of the season.

The double-up matches mean some sides enjoy easier runs home than others in the lead up to finals.

Here are the sides each BFNL team plays twice in 2024.

Ballarat: Redan, Lake Wendouree, North Ballarat, Sebastopol, Melton South, East Point

Bacchus Marsh: Lake Wendouree, Melton South, North Ballarat, Melton, Darley, Sunbury

Darley: North Ballarat, East Point, Sebastopol, Sunbury, Bacchus Marsh, Melton

East Point: Sebastopol, Darley, Lake Wendouree, North Ballarat, Sunbury, Ballarat

Lake Wendouree: Bacchus Marsh, Sebastopol, Ballarat, East Point, Melton, Redan

Melton: Sunbury, North Ballarat, Melton South, Bacchus Marsh, Lake Wendouree, Darley

Melton South: Bacchus Marsh, Melton, Sunbury, Redan, Ballarat, Sebastopol

North Ballarat: Darley, Melton, Bacchus Marsh, Ballarat, East Point, Redan

Redan: Ballarat, Sunbury, Sebastopol, Melton South, North Ballarat, Lake Wendouree

Sebastopol: East Point, Lake Wendouree, Darley, Redan, Ballarat, Melton South

Sunbury: Melton, Redan, Melton South, Darley, East Point, Bacchus Marsh

Darley won last year’s premiership.Picture: Hamish Blair

Ranking teams by their percentage in 2023 - meaning Melton is the most difficult opponent despite a straight sets finals exit - it can be calculated which teams have an easier run home over others.

It is an all-too-familiar feeling for Lake Wendouree, while Sebastopol has plenty of reasons to celebrate.

Sorted from easiest run home to hardest, here are the winners and losers of the 2024 BFNL fixture.

1 - Sebastopol (98.9 average opponent percentage)

2 - Redan (100.8%)

3 - Melton (106.3%)

4 - Ballarat (108.6%)

5 - Bacchus Marsh (124.9%)

6 - East Point (126.8%)

7 - Sunbury (129.1%)

8 - Lake Wendouree (135.2%)

9 - Melton South (138.1%)

10 - North Ballarat (138.5%)

11 - Darley (149.1%)

WINNERS

SEBASTOPOL

The Burra have been gifted the easiest fixture in the league, boasting surprising double-ups against the three lowest-ranked sides of 2023 in Melton South (15.47%), Lake Wendouree (45.48%) and Ballarat (71.86%).

This comes despite Sebastopol finishing the home-and-away season in third before bouncing out in a shock elimination final loss to East Point.

It is the second-consecutive season in which the Burra go head-to-head with the bottom-two sides from the previous year.

The kind fixture means Sebastopol playing coach Tony Lockyer can head into his first season as coach with 16 points already banked up.

REDAN

Redan boasts a dream fixture for the 2024 BFNL season, avoiding both Melton (213.38%) and Darley (201.32%) with double-ups against last season’s bottom-three sides.

The Lions play just two finalists from last year in Sebastopol (181.6%) and North Ballarat (149.29%) - but Sunbury still holds an intimidating percentage of 141.28 percent.

Gary Learmonth’s side was tipped to play finals by many last year thanks to a relatively-friendly fixture and - despite losing Izaac Grant to Hepburn - should be expecting another top-six finish after receiving the second-easiest fixture for 2024.

BALLARAT

Chris Maple’s young side will be interesting to follow in 2024, but luckily for the Swans they hold the fourth-easiest fixture across the league.

Both Ballarat and Bacchus Marsh share double-ups against Lake Wendouree and Melton South, but the Swans crucially avoid Melton and Darley in the final seven rounds of the season.

It sees Ballarat hold a 108.6 average opponent percentage, 16.3 percent less than Bacchus Marsh, which only snuck above Ballarat on the ladder in the final game of the season.

The Swans managed just five wins last year but, following a healthy fixture, should now back themselves to improve on that number in 2024.

LOSERS

NORTH BALLARAT

It might seem strange having last year’s runners-up in the ‘losers’ section, but North Ballarat coach Brendan McCartney would be wondering where this scheduling was last season.

North Ballarat was the only top-six side that did not double-up against Lake Wendouree or Melton South last season, which was a strange fixture quirk that McCartney addressed often.

The Roosters, this time alongside Darley, once again miss out on double-ups against the Lakers and Panthers.

Ahead of the 2023 season North Ballarat - which finished sixth in 2022 - was dealt the fifth-toughest fixture while 2022 runners-up Sebastopol enjoyed the second-easiest fixture.

So now, here sits McCartney’s side, a side that fell just shy of a remarkable grand final upset, hoping for the Sebastopol treatment but instead dealt the second-hardest fixture for 2024.

It makes perfect sense when ignoring how the 2023 fixture came to be, but the Roosters will once again feel as though they have the odds against them as they aim to go one better in 2024.

North Ballarat has been handed a rough draw. Picture: Hamish Blair

MELTON SOUTH

Melton South’s fixture was always going to look tough given the Panthers cannot go head-to-head with their own percentage from last season, but Travis Hodgson’s side still has every right to feel hard done by.

The Panthers missed out on a double-up against Lake Wendouree for the second year running, resulting in the third-toughest fixture behind last year’s grand finalists in Darley and North Ballarat, respectively.

The entire league will be eager to see how the new-look Panthers fare in 2024, but their tough fixture only adds to the challenge.

LAKE WENDOUREE

The Lakers double up against five of the six teams Melton South doubles up against but a round 15 trip to Eastern Oval sees their average opponent percentage fall 2.9 percent lower than the Panthers.

A total of four out of six double ups come against last year’s finalists for Lake Wendouree, with the Lakers only playing two fellow bottom-five sides in Ballarat and Bacchus Marsh in 2024.

Rohan Brown has managed to bring in some handy talent over the off-season but the jury is still out on whether it eclipses the recruiting of the other bottom-five sides.

Originally published as We reveal who has the best Ballarat FNL draw in 2024