Game on: Eastern league 2025 season preview
Star recruits, flag fancies, predictions and more. Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the Eastern league season.
Eastern
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BALWYN is back as the hunted.
Without a flag for seven years, the Tigers returned to the throne they had once dominated, winning the 2024 Premier Division cup in one of the closest deciders in recent memory.
And edging minor premier East Ringwood by two points spells another hot race for the league’s biggest prize among the top-flight’s top teams.
It’s rarely a quiet off-season at Cherry Rd, with Balwyn, true to form, welcoming a package of top-drawer recruits ahead of its premiership defence.
Former Carlton VFL captain Lachie Young will serve as a playing-assistant, while Sturt premiership wingman Steve Slimming arrives from the SANFL. The Tigers, led by ex-Adelaide coach Brenton Sanderson, might also see former St Kilda and Port Adelaide defender Jarrod Lienert, who is on North Melbourne’s VFL list.
But arguably the biggest signing in local footy this off-season has happened across town at South Croydon.
Triple premiership Hawk Liam Shiels will pull on the red, white and blue fresh out of a 288-game AFL career, as the resurgent Bulldogs look for back-to-back finals appearances under coach Brendan Allen.
Shiels headlines a long line of ex-AFL names landing at Premier Division clubs, including former No. 2 draft pick Josh Schache (Doncaster East), former Melbourne and Essendon forward Sam Weideman (Vermont), ex-Saint Daniel McKenzie (Blackburn), and former Hawk Josh Bennetts (Rowville).
Two of those clubs – Vermont and Rowville – featured in finals last season, with Vermont crashing out in the first week and Rowville falling short in a prelim.
Meanwhile, Schache’s arrival at Zerbes Reserve comes as the Lions look to rebound, missing the finals after a prelim the year before. Along with a stack of key signings, attention will be firmly fixed on Doncaster East’s fortunes.
The newcomer is the rapidly-rising Mitcham, returning to the league’s top-flight since 2006 following consecutive Division 1 premierships.
Division 1 poses an intriguing premiership race, with Boronia – fresh off back-to-back premierships in Division 2 jumping up a flight, while Norwood returns to the tier for the first time in 17 years after relegation from the top grade. Let’s also not forget Park Orchards, which finished on top of the ladder last season before a grand final thrashing at the hands of Mitcham. Can the Sharks harness the heartbreak and bounce back?
Every team in Division 2 will be breathing a sigh of relief after waving goodbye to Boronia – which lost just two games in two years. It throws the flag race wide open, with Heathmont and Templestowe heavily recruiting, the Waverley Blues and Mulgrave looking to take a further step in finals and Croydon chasing a flag that eluded it in last year’s decider. And how will the rapidly-rising Surrey Park fare? It hits the season carrying the momentum and rare feat of back-to-back flags across divisions 3 and 4 across the past two years. Meanwhile, Wantirna South will be looking to rebound after it suffered relegation from Division 1.
All eyes will be on Donvale in Division 3 following its last-gasp two-point defeat to Surrey Park in the 2024 decider. The benchmark team of the past few seasons, the Vales will be under new coach and club great Tony Weeks. Knox shapes as another Division 3 contender, led by triple Eastern league premiership coach Steve Buckle after a finals berth last year – the club’s first since 2017. Coldstream cannot be discounted as Darcy Fritsch toasted 100 goals in a season last year, while it’s a new era at Ferntree Gully under new coach Patty Garrity, with ex-AFL livewire Jaidyn Stephenson returning to his junior club. Oakleigh District rounded out last year’s top five – suffering a first-week finals exit – but with a swag of recruits, including Brownlow medallist Dane Swan already locked in for an appearance, could the Oaks be the big improver?
One of the stories of the off-season has been the arrival of longstanding VAFA club Bulleen Templestowe, which hits Division 4 with some handy recruits – including Balwyn premiership pair Jake and Josh Sticca returning to their junior club. The Whitehorse Pioneers suffered a heavy Division 4 grand final defeat to Scoresby last season, but with the Magpies promoted, the flag race is wide open.
Expect Kilsyth and Chirnside Park to be strong again, while Warrandyte, stacked with signings, is another newcomer after its relegation from Division 3.
South Croydon is the new team to beat in the senior women’s Premier Division after dethroning powerhouse Eastern Devils by 12 points in last year’s grand final – while denying them a three-peat. Leading the charge was Taylah Black, who topped the comp goalkicking with 49 on the way to a third senior league medal to become Eastern’s first female to achieve legend status.
Black formed the Premier Division’s most potent attack duo last season alongside great mate Tannika Martin, with the pair combining for 75 majors.
Eastern Devils also weren’t short of firepower, with Shelley Beggs (47 goals), Ashleigh Allsopp (26) and Nicole Price (21) all dangerous in attack to figure among the top forwards. Their attack was again the envy of the competition, romping to a leading 1029 points for, while their defence was also the stingiest, letting by a paltry 249 points. Can last year’s disappointment at the final hurdle spur the Devils to a third flag in four seasons this year, could fellow finalists Whitehorse and South Belgrave take a further step, or could South Croydon defend the throne?
It won’t be usurped easily according to South Croydon president Steve Quon.
“Men and women at our club, we want to be at the top of Premier Division for sustained periods of time – we don’t just want to win one (premiership), we want to be up the top for a long time,” he said following the grand final.
Each women’s premiership wrote its own story, with underdog Park Orchards (Division 1) finishing third to claim the flag in a come-from-behind nail-biter, Surrey Park (Division 2) winning its inaugural crown, Mooroolbark (Division 3) going back-to-back and Ferntree Gully (Division 4) saluting in its first season back in the competition.
And if the flag narratives are half as good as last season’s across all competitions, we’re in for a treat in 2025. Game on.
PREMIER DIVISION
Teams: Balwyn, Berwick, Blackburn, Doncaster East, East Ringwood, Mitcham, Noble Park, Rowville, South Croydon, Vermont
Reigning premier/runner-up: Balwyn/East Ringwood
Best and fairest: James Belo (East Ringwood)
Leading goalkicker: Charlie Haley (Balwyn, 57)
DIVISION 1
Teams: Bayswater, Beaconsfield, Doncaster, Montrose, Mooroolbark, North Ringwood, Norwood, Park Orchards, South Belgrave, Boronia
Reigning premier/runner-up: Mitcham/Park Orchards
Best and fairest: Michael Prosenak (Park Orchards)
Leading goalkicker: Ryan Garthwaite (Montrose, 56)
DIVISION 2
Teams: Croydon, East Burwood, Heathmont, Lilydale, Mulgrave, Ringwood, Surrey Park, Templestowe, Wantirna South, Waverley Blues
Reigning premier/runner-up: Boronia/Croydon
Best and fairest: Mitch Mellis (Boronia)
Leading goalkicker: Josh Begley (Boronia, 54)
DIVISION 3
Teams: Coldstream, Donvale, Fairpark, Ferntree Gully, Knox, Oakleigh District, Silvan, The Basin, Upper Ferntree Gully
Reigning premier/runner-up: Surrey Park/Donvale
Best and fairest: James Rausa (Donvale)
Leading goalkicker: Darcy Fritsch (Coldstream, 100)
DIVISION 4
Teams: Bulleen Templestowe, Chirnside Park, Croydon North-MLOC, Forest Hill, Kilsyth, Whitehorse Pioneers, Warrandyte
Reigning premier/runner-up: Scoresby (promoted to Division 3)/Whitehorse Pioneers
Best and fairest: Ryan McNay (Kilsyth)
Leading goalkicker: Nick Kann (Surrey Park, 49)
WOMEN’S PREMIER DIVISION
Teams: Boronia Brown, Eastern Devils White, Park Orchards, South Belgrave Black, South Croydon Blue, The Basin Red, Vermont Purple, Whitehorse Pioneers
Reigning premier/runner-up: South Croydon/Eastern Devils White
Best and fairest: Taylah Black (South Croydon)
Leading goalkicker: Taylah Black (South Croydon, 49)
WOMEN’S DIVISION 1
Teams: Balwyn, Donvale, East Ringwood, Knox, North Ringwood, Surrey Park
Reigning premier/runner-up: Park Orchards (promoted to Premier Division)/North Ringwood
Best and fairest: Paris Gebel-Lamb (East Ringwood)
Leading goalkicker: Eliza Wilson (North Ringwood, 36)
WOMEN’S DIVISION 2
Teams: Beaconsfield, Berwick, Blackburn Black, Kilsyth, Montrose, Mooroolbark, Waverley Blues
Reigning premier/runner-up: Surrey Park (promoted to Division 1)/Montrose
Best and fairest: Mia Chadwick (Blackburn)
Leading goalkicker: Alari Georgia Malkoun (Berwick, 49)
WOMEN’S DIVISION 3
Teams: Chirnside Park, Coldstream, Eastern Devils Black, Ferntree Gully, Heathmont, Mitcham, North Ringwood Red, South Croydon Red
Reigning premier/runner-up: Mooroolbark (promoted to Division 2)/Coldstream
Best and fairest: Jordyn Doevelaar (Mooroolbark)
Leading goalkicker: Georgia Fairbairn (Mitcham, 29)
WOMEN’S DIVISION 4
Teams: Bayswater, Boronia Gold, Fairpark, Nunawading, The Basin Green, Wantirna South, Warrandyte
Reigning premier/runner-up: Ferntree Gully (promoted to Division 3)/Bayswater
Best and fairest: Ashleigh Hilder (Ferntree Gully)
Leading goalkicker: Breanna Carter (Ferntree Gully, 30)
FIVE PREDICTIONS
•East Ringwood to win its first top-division premiership since 2002
•Doncaster East to bounce back from a lowly finish in 2024 and play finals in Premier Division
•Eastern Devils to win a third flag in four seasons in the women’s top division
•Boronia to make a third-straight grand final in its promotion to Division 1
•Division 4’s Bulleen Templestowe to feature in finals in its first Eastern league season
Named: 25 EFNL Division 1 players to watch in ‘25
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Embattled Eastern club enters recess
A proud Eastern club will not take the field this season, with the league breaking its silence just days out from round one. Latest here.