VCFL: Country Victoria’s best footy teams of the past decade
Country Victoria comes alive every weekend through the footy season as hundreds of clubs take the field to battle it out. But which country team has been the most dominant of the past decade?
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FROM Poowong to Natimuk, Gol Gol to Rumbalara, and Noorat to Yackandahdah, thousands of country footy players take the field every weekend for the love of the game – and maybe a small match fee if they’re lucky.
There’s about 40 leagues officially falling under the AFL Victoria Country banner and more than 400 clubs.
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But which country club has been the best of the past decade? Which club seems to attract the best talent with promises of a free pie after the game and petrol money to come home on the weekend?
We went through the records to find the team’s that dominated their leagues from 2010 to 2019 and became the toast of their country towns.
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BELL POST HILL
(Geelong & District FL)
7 premierships; 1 runner-up
■ SUBURBAN Geelong is hardly haybales and roaming livestock – depending on the suburb – but the Panthers were the dominant team in a league that does include country towns like Winchelsea and Inverleigh.
Joining the GDFL in 1977, the team from the very western edge of Geelong didn’t win a flag for 33 years.
But when they did eventually break through they made it count, going back-to-back-to-back from 2010 to 2012, before stumbling in the grand final to North Geelong in 2013, and bouncing back with another four flags from 2014 to 2017.
KERANG
(Central Murray FL)
7 premierships; 1 runner-up
■ KERANG in the north-west – not to be mistaken with Terang in the south-west – benefits from being one of the bigger towns in its 11-team league with a population of about 4000.
But does winning six premierships in a row really come from having a bigger pool of players to pick from?
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Starting the decade with a grand final victory over Swan Hill (who notably have a population three times that of Kerang), the Blues then lost to Swan Hill in 2011, which pissed them off enough that they decided to win the next six flags as payback.
Showing town population doesn’t really mean anything because players tend to be dragged around from club to club, Woorinen – more of a concept than a town – saw out the decade with back-to-back Central Murray premierships against fellow conceptuals the Mallee Eagles.
BRIDGEWATER
(Loddon Valley FL)
7 premierships; 1 runner-up
■ ARGUABLY the epitome of a country football club compared to the other teams to win seven flags this decade, the “Mean Machine” lost just one match out of 54 between 2014 and 2016, claiming all seven flags in a row from 2010 to 2016.
With an official population of just 326, Bridgewater is actually one of the bigger towns in a league that includes the likes of Mitiamo (117 people), Pyramid Hill (419), and Newbridge (192).
With their run finally ending in a grand final loss to Calivil United in 2017, the people of Bridgewater were consoled with the grandest of victories in 2018 when the Bridgewater Bakehouse won first place for Australia’s best vanilla slice.
FRANKSTON YCW
(Mornington Peninsula FL)
7 premierships
■ WHEN is a country football team most definitely not a country football team? When it’s Frankston.
But we have to make mention of Frankston YCW’s efforts in the Peninsula Division/Division 1 because there’s a country element to some of their opponents and the league falls under the VCFL banner.
Congratulations on a cracking decade Frankston, but you’re about as country as an Uber Eats delivery from Guzman after a big night on King St.
ALBURY
(Ovens & Murray FL)
6 premierships; 3 runners-up
■ WHEN is a Victorian country football team most definitely not a Victorian country football team? When they’re from New South Wales.
In a league that splits its combatants between the navy blue and light blue sides of the Murray, it’s the light blue side that comes out on top.
The Tigers are the only country team to play in nine grand finals, only falling short this season after being knocked out in straight sets in the finals having lost just three games for the season beforehand.
KOROIT
(Hampden FL)
6 premierships; 1 runner-up
■ FINALLY we’re back on track with a team that is legitamately both country AND Victorian.
With a population of just 2000, Koroit’s success is all the more impressive given it’s one of the smaller towns in the Hampden Football League, coming up against traditional powerhouses Warrnambool and South Warrnambool, who have provided the likes of Jonathan Brown, Paul Couch and Leon Cameron to the AFL.
Joining the league 1961, the Saints won just two flags in 42 years – they now have 11 on their honour board and sit in equal-second with South Warrnambool for the most premierships in the league.
HORSHAM
(Wimmera FL)
6 premierships; 1 runner-up
■ HAD the decade before been considered in the calculations, the Horsham Demons would almost certainly be on top of this list.
The club won 10 premierships in a row between 2003 and 2012, before losing in a prelim to arch-rivals the Horsham Saints in 2013, and bouncing back in 2014 with a one-goal in the decider to break Saints hearts.
The battle between the Demons and the Saints this decade has been so fierce that Dan Brown is considering writing a novel about it.
NATHALIA
(Murray FL)
6 premierships
■ ANOTHER one of those satisfying clubs where the population is relatively small, but the footy club is bloody big.
Home to just under 2000 people, the Purples battle it out with bigger towns like Echuca and Cobram but consistently come out on top, winning the past five premierships against five different opponents and taking home 10 of the past 15 titles.
And all this wearing possibly the most disgusting footy kit in Aussie Rules history.
Go the Purples!
HONOURABLE MENTIONS
Sorrento: 5 premierships, 3 runners-up across two divisions in the Mornington FL
Bambill: 5 premierships, 2 runners-up in the Millewa FL
North Gambier (SA): 5 premierships, 2 runners-up in the Westerb Border FL
Nagambie: 5 premierships, 1 runners-up in the Kyabram & District FL
Strathfieldsaye: 4 premierships, 2 runners-up in the Bendigo FL
Golden Square: 4 premierships, 1 runner-up in the Bendigo FL
Lindenow: 4 premierships, 3 runners-up in the East Gippsland FL
Kyabram: 4 premierships, 3 runners-up in the Goulburn Valley FL
Navarre: 4 premierships, 3 runners-up in the Maryborough-Castlemaine District FL
Wedderburn: 4 premierships in the North Central FL
Sale City: 4 premierships in the North Gippsland FL
Lindenow South: 4 premierships, 3 runners-up in the Omeo & District FL
Woori Yallock: 4 premierships in the Outer East/Yarra Ranges FL
Glenrowan: 4 premierships, 1 runner-up in the Ovens & King FL
Heywood: 4 premierships, 3 runners-up in the South-West District FL
Bullioh: 4 premierships, 2 runners-up in the Upper Murray FL
Kolora-Noorat: 4 premierships, 1 runner-up in the Warrnambool & District FL
Originally published as VCFL: Country Victoria’s best footy teams of the past decade