The big issues and star players we’re looking forward to seeing in the Riddell District Football League
Season 2021 can’t come fast enough for local footy fans and we’ve gazed into the crystal ball to look at the big issues and star players we’re looking forward to seeing next year.
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The 2020 season might have been cancelled but that doesn’t mean we can’t still talk about footy.
Here’s just some of the big issues and star players we’re looking forward to in the Riddell District Football League in 2021.
FIRST BOUNCE
The waiting game was the only game played this year after COVID-19 struck at the sporting scene and all else in Victoria. If it happens, footy’s return in the region is going to be sweet in 2021. The RDFL held out for as long as possible this season before Melbourne’s second wave forced the league to pull the pin on June 30. Every club and township that supports it will be counting down the days until the new season.
REVENGE? MOTIVATION NO ISSUE FOR FLAG-HUNTING PIES
LEADER: GET YOUR RIDDELL DISTRICT FOOTY NEWS HERE
SHIFT: RUPERTSWOOD’S BID TO JOIN RIVAL LEAGUE HITS SNAG
FINISHED: SECOND SHUTDOWN CANCELS COUNTRY FOOTY LEAGUE
A NEW PREMIER
Rupertswood’s move to the Essendon District league is before AFL Victoria but if the Sharks don’t return to defend their crown, the premiership race is wide open in 2021. Wallan will fancy their chances of going one better after a blistering finals run came to a jarring end in last year’s grand final. Diggers Rest would be keen to make up for their shock finals exit while Romsey and Riddell are always a looming danger. Macedon and Woodend-Hesket could also be in the mix after strong recruiting campaigns this year. This goes for the A-Grade netball pennant as well after the Sharks claimed the title last year. Grand finalist Macedon will be looking to reclaim the crown it won in 2018.
A FRESH START
There are also potentially big changes at the administration level ahead of the 2021 season with the RDFNL preparing to severe ties with AFL Goldfields. The partnership with AFL Goldfields is believed to have left several clubs disgruntled in the past few years and a move to stand independently could be a huge boost for the league’s immediate and long-term future. RDFNL president Brenton Knott has made a strong start to his tenure and has been working hard to get clubs back on side.
WATERS BACK IN YELLOW AND BLACK
Tom Waters’ return to Lancefield was celebrated at Tigerland before COVID-19 ruined his comeback season. The star ruckman spent four seasons at Macedon, winning a premiership in 2017, but is back at Lancefield Park as captain-coach and is committed to 2021. Waters won a premiership and two Bowen Medals during his first stint. The Tigers junior has brought some fresh recruits as the club looks to move back up the RDFL ladder following several years of rebuilding its financial position. Expect the club’s opening game to be well attended.
DIGGERS’ RESPONSE
Diggers Rest entered the 2019 finals as minor premier but lost the major semi-final and crashed out in the preliminary final against a red-hot Wallan. It was a disappointing end to the season, one that saw several players continue to train in the aftermath to be ready for redemption in 2020. The Burra certainly didn’t rest on their laurels over the summer, adding reigning Bowen Medallist Jaidyn Caruana in late November. If coach Jamie Lobb can keep the list together under the revised salary cap, the club will be pre-season premiership favourites.
BOMBERS’ ONE-TWO PUNCH
We talked them up before they’d even played a game in the pre-season but if Dylan Tarczon and Jake Conolan both commit to Riddell in 2021, the Bombers have a genuinely scary forward combination. Tarczon finished the 2019 home-and-away campaign with 64 majors to his name, second best in the competition, while Conolan managed 22 last season and 34 in 2018 with Gisborne in the Bendigo Football League. Add in Ethan Foreman (43 goals) and rival defences will have their work cut out stopping the Bombers.
WAYNE PATAK
It’s not often a four-time premiership player falls into a club’s hands but when Wayne Patak was looking for a change of pace, the Hawks were big winners. The star midfielder won three Western Region titles with Spotswood and an Essendon District premiership with Aberfeldie and will be still only 32 when the new season rolls around. It capped an impressive recruiting summer for new Woodend-Hesket coach Ben Tankard with EDFL Division 1 league best-and-fairest winner James Vistarini, Rory Alexander, Nick Franzi (all Taylors Lakes) and Aaron French (East Malvern) all arriving, while former Hawks Blake Laverie and Charlie Mathieson returned.
FINALS RACE
With only nine teams expected to contest the 2021 season, the RDFL could cut the finals from a top six to a top five next year. It would make the finals race even more intense and percentage ever more crucial. In 2019, Macedon made finals with a 10-6 record, four points behind Wallan in fifth and three games ahead of Melton Centrals in seventh. It would be the first time since 2007 the league had held a top-five finals series. The evenness of the competition has been highlighted over the past two years with the minor premier failing to make the grand final and the third-placed team claiming the premiership.
NEW CLUBS?
The RDFL has lost Sunbury Kangaroos and Broadford in the past two years and reigning premier Rupertswood has also requested a shift. The league has said it is on the lookout for new clubs for 2022 and beyond to strengthen the competition. Clubs in the region have been targeted to join or return in the coming years but there is a long way to go before anything becomes official. Yet, in the wake of COVID-19 clubs and leagues across Victoria will be re-evaluating their future and could be open to a move.