Queenscliff have been the biggest story of the BFNL so far in 2025
It’s been one of the most competitive Bellarine seasons in memory, with the premiership race wide open. See our verdict on every team so far.
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We’re into the back half of the BFNL season and it’s been a campaign noted for its overall evenness as perennial cellar dwellers like Newcomb and Portarlington have shown strong signs for the future.
Barring Ocean Grove, who have endured a nightmare start to the year with 11 goalless quarters, the Power and the Demons have banked seven wins between them while Queenscliff have undeniably been the big story of 2025.
The Coutas are poised to play their first finals campaign since 2018 after winning six on the trot and taking some big scalps along the way.
In fact, they’ve beaten all other teams in the competition’s top six while a retooled Geelong Amateur has put a horror finish to its 2024 campaign behind it with a 9-1 start.
Meanwhile, Torquay is well placed to defend its title, albeit without setting the competition on fire, while the likes of Drysdale, Anglesea and Barwon Heads cannot be discounted.
However, the big slider has been Modewarre, who qualified for a semi-final last year but has dropped to eighth despite a string of competitive performances against the league’s best in the Tigers, Hawks and Ammos.
We’ve taken a look at your club’s season so far and how the rest of the season may play out.
Geelong Amateur
It’s no surprise the addition of Sam Lloyd and Mitch Day has had a big impact on the Ammos’ scoring profile, with both inside the league’s top five for goals with 68 between them.
Pipping Jack Duke and Jacob Watson (50) at the Power and Queenscliff’s Izaac Grant and Jordan Monahan (48), they form the Bellarine’s most powerful double act forward of the ball as the Ammos have dropped just one game so far.
Barring an ascendant Queenscliff, the Ammos have beaten all other teams in the top six.
And while they’re comfortably two wins clear on top, Amateur would be smart to remember how things panned out last year where they dropped four of their last five games, sinking from the top bracket, and the only team to down the eventual premier, to a comprehensive elimination final loss.
Current position: first
High point: 43-point defeat of Torquay in Round 1
Low point: six-point loss to Queenscliff in Round 6
Best quarter: 7.2 against Portarlington in Round 8
Key players: Tom Gribble, Mitch Day, Sam Lloyd, Dan Weigl, Riley Ferguson, Blake Sutterby, Tom Zeitz
Queenscliff
The biggest story of the BFNL so far has easily been the young Coutas, who have won their past six in a row and taken some massive scalps along the way.
Downing the league leaders in Round 6 was a huge shot of self-belief for Heath Jamieson’s charges, with new recruit Izaac Grant shooting to third on the goalkicking table after a white-hot five-week run which netted 25 majors.
Former Grubber Jayden McHenry has also given the Coutas another option up forward.
Down back, Lachlan McKane has kept some of the leading goalkickers relatively quiet, with Mitch Day (four) and Ayden Gras (one), while Jordy McIvor-Clark has offered impressive rebound.
Meanwhile, senior coach Heath Jamieson believes Kai Keenan can be anything.
With Ocean Grove, Newcomb and Modewarre to come in the next block of five games, the Coutas are poised for their first finals campaign in seven years.
Current position: second
High point: Beating Geelong Amateur by six points in Round 6
Low point: Opening round loss to Newcomb
Best quarter: 8.4 against Portarlington in Round 7, 8.3 versus Geelong Amateur in Round 6
Key players: Izaac Grant, Jordy McIvor-Clark, Kai Keenan, Lachlan McKane, Lachie Kidd, Che Durran
Torquay
It’s been far from a dominant defence of the BFNL title from the Tigers, who lost a raft of premiership players (Baxter Mensch, Chase Loftus) during the off-season, while emerging young ruck Ed McCoy shifted to St Joseph’s.
However, the Tigers would be happy with the output from young players Banjo Dyer and Will Montebello, booting 39 goals between them, while the Tigers’ possess the competition’s stingiest defence and the second-best percentage.
The Tigers have dispatched bottom rung teams Newcomb and Ocean Grove in the past two weeks to give it a serious boost.
Its offence could be strengthened further before a likely finals campaign, with new recruit Blake Grant restricted to just one senior game while key forward Lucas Anderson has not returned from an ACL injury in Round 4 last year.
Current position: third
High point: beating Barwon Heads by 73 points in Round 3
Low point: losing to Newcomb by 18 points in Round 2
Best quarter: 9.6 against Newcomb in Round 9
Key players: Matt Boag, Banjo Dyer, Ben McNamara, James Darke, Charlie Ham
Drysdale
Apart from a 25-point defeat of Torquay, you could argue the Hawks have yet to take a big scalp so far in 2025.
After a 2-3 start, the Hawks built up some serious momentum with four wins on the trot before going down to Barwon Heads by 43 points.
Leopold junior Lachlan Nelis has been a strong pick-up for Drysdale while Jack Jenkins continues his superb work down back and has been in the best players on eight occasions.
The Hawks have stability at the top with coach Ben Carmichael recently extending his contract for a further two years earlier this week.
Current position: fourth
High point: Four wins on the trot
Low point: Kept to just 37 points against Geelong Amateur in Round 5
Best quarter: 8.3 against Modewarre in Round 2
Key players: Jack Jenkins, Chris Tainton, Luke Preece, Ben Fennell, Lachlan Nelis, Tom Ruggles
Anglesea
The Roos have covered for the loss of Tom Couch and Dylan Pettingill, with Joeys recruit Ayden Gras leading the competition with 46 majors.
A 56-point loss to Queenscliff at the Couta Bowl – albeit missing defensive pieces Dylan Featon and Noah McGregor-Dawson – was disappointing but they won’t be the last top five team to lose there in 2025.
In a similar vein to Jack Duke’s season last year, Gras has kicked exactly a third of the Roos’ goals in 2025.
The Roos have managed to win the close ones this year, with tight victories over Drysdale (six points), Barwon Heads (one point) and Portarlington (four points).
Current position: fifth
High point: Ayden Gras’ dominance of the BFNL
Low point: Beaten by Queenscliff by 56 points in Round 10
Best quarter: 8.5 against Modewarre in Round 8
Key players: Ayden Gras, Lachlan Smith, Jordan Keras, Dylan Featon
Barwon Heads
An iffy start to the season for the Seagulls, with a 73-point defeat to Torquay its worst result.
However, they’re still very much within striking distance in a competition where just three wins separates second and seventh.
A win outside the five, Barwon Heads will face a tough fortnight with the Tigers at home and then the Ammos at Queens Park Reserve, and narrow losses to Anglesea and Modewarre may prove costly in the bigger picture.
Barring Geelong Amateur, the Seagulls are the league’s most offensive team without relying on one key forward to get the job done while Brock Close won’t play this year.
Youngster Jack Henderson (22 goals), Mitch Herbison (16), Jake Whybrow (14), Lachlan Wilson (13) and Tom Baker (13) have led the scoring so far this year.
New recruit Damian McMahon has been in the best players on seven occasions from nine games to be one of the competition’s best acquisitions.
Current position: sixth
High point: 43-point defeat of Drysdale in Round 10
Low point: 73-point loss to Torquay in Round 3
Best quarter: 11.2 against Newcomb in Round 8
Key players: Damian McMahon, Jack Henderson, Kyle Polley, Mitch Herbison, Luke Davis, Zach Walter
Portarlington
It’s been an up and down season for the Demons, who have battled injuries to key players in Mitch Turnbull, Jack Dorgan, Kelly Pickard, Connor Menadue and then Scott Greenhough last round.
And the Demons had the inner turmoil of parting ways with its senior coach, Darren Findlay, after just seven games.
However, they’ve won back-to-back victories twice and are only two wins off fifth place.
They would have dreamed of being in that position just a few years ago.
A 102-point belting at the hands of Queenscliff may have triggered some memories from the bad old days but Portarlington has Modewarre this Saturday and could achieve what they haven’t done in at least 15 seasons: win three in a row.
Greenhough has made a huge difference in the ruck and has been named in the club’s best on eight occasions from nine games.
Current position: seventh
High point: A pair of back-to-back victories
Low point: A 102-point loss to Queenscliff in Round 8
Best quarter: 9.0 against Newcomb in Round 3
Key players: Scott Greenough, Teia Miles, Mitch Turnbull, Kelly Pickard, Connor Menadue, Tom Panuccio
Modewarre
The Warriors would be disappointed to be eighth at this point in the season but it’s perhaps not an accurate representation of where the club is at, with strong form against the league’s best.
Modewarre got within two points of the league leaders in Round 10, threatened to pinch the game late against Drysdale the week before, was beaten by 13 points by the reigning premier and downed Barwon Heads, all over the past five rounds.
And they’re one of three teams to beat Queenscliff.
However, some bad quarters have let the Warriors down, conceding 8.5 against Anglesea in the opening term, 8.3 against Drysdale and 6.4 versus Ocean Grove.
Ranked third last in the competition for offensive prowess, Scott Morter (25 goals) and Tom Hornsey (18) could use a bit more assistance.
Current position: eighth
High point: Beating Queenscliff by 43 points in Round 4
Low point: Beaten by 65 points by Anglesea in Round 8
Best quarter: 8.6 against Ocean Grove in Round 1
Key player: Scott Morter, Tom Hornsey, Josh Finch, Oscar Hocking, Matt Farrelly, Oscar Cooke
Newcomb
A ladder position of second last might be familiar for Power fans but three wins after 10 rounds is a big improvement on 2024 with giant strides taken in some matches, knocking off two top five teams.
However, the defence remains an issue with Newcomb the most scored against team in the BFNL by some margin and have conceded the three biggest quarter scores: 11.2 against Barwon Heads, 9.6 versus Torquay and 9.0 against Portarlington.
After wins against top five teams in Queenscliff and Torquay to open the season, the Power were walloped by 115 and 139 points in successive rounds to Barwon Heads and the Tigers respectively.
A one-point loss to Drysdale probably still stings after the Power produced its best quarter of the year, kicking 7.4 to 1.4 to start the game.
Reasonably well placed to at least match its five-win season of 2022 if it takes its chances.
Current position: ninth
High point: 18-point win over Torquay in Round 2
Low point: Losing by more than 100 points in successive weeks
Best quarter: 7.4 against Drysdale in Round 6
Key players: Dion Johnstone, Jack Duke, Jacob Watson, Jarrod Stafford, Finn Anscombe
Ocean Grove
A nightmare season for the Grubbers so far.
For all the talk of a more competitive BFNL season, Ocean Grove remains the outlier with a 1-9 start, an average team score of 49.3 points and without a goalkicker in the league’s top 30.
Things began strongly with a 20-point defeat of Modewarre, but then the wheels quickly began to fall off.
Co-coach Nick Bourke revealed last month it had been a mental grind to help keep the club competitive.
The Grubbers’ opening terms have been a major issue, with six first quarters where they’ve failed to kick a goal and offered up just nine points in total.
Across the season, Ocean Grove has recorded 11 goalless terms while key recruit Joe McDonald hasn’t played since Round 6.
Current position: 10th
High point: Round 1 defeat of Modewarre
Low point: Kept to two behinds by three quarter time against Queenscliff in Round 5
Best quarter: 6.4 against Modewarre in Round 1
Key players: Rhys Devlin, Taj Wyburd, Kye Annand, Jamison Hallam, Joe McDonald, Gus Bourke
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Originally published as Queenscliff have been the biggest story of the BFNL so far in 2025
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