Country footy round one: Wangaratta v Albury the match to watch

The country footy season kicks off this weekend and some great matches are in store. Find out where the best games are being played.

The wait is over.

Country footy is back this weekend and hopes are high a full season can be played for the first time since 2019.

Some bumper matches are programmed for round one and The Weekly Times has previewed four of the best on offer.

WANGARATTA V ALBURY

When the Ovens and Murray season was cut short last year, Albury and Wangaratta were sitting first and second on the ladder, destined to meet in a grand final for the third time since 2017.

The Tigers’ 13-0 win-loss record included two wins over the Magpies and their recent rivalry resumes at Wangaratta.

Albury, under player points pressure last year, has kept its recruiting to a minimum with Brydan Hodgson its biggest addition after his stints with Werribee and Spotswood.

Brydan Hodgson, left, in action for Spotswood, He has joined Albury Tigers this season.

In contrast, Wangaratta has topped up with the return of former junior Jackson Clarke from West Preston Lakeside to a list already boasting reigning Morris medallist Callum Moore, new coach Ben Reid, Abe Ankers, Michael Newton and Joe Richards.

Richards finished runner-up to Moore in the league medal and Ankers was fourth with Tigers star onballer Fletcher Carroll filling third spot.

WONTHAGGI V SALE

Wonthaggi is yet to win a premiership since entering the Gippsland league in 2010 with the last decade dominated by Maffra and Leongatha.

But the Power is on the charge under favourite son and Collingwood 2010 premiership player Jarryd Blair who took over as coach last year.

Wonthaggi was sitting second behind Leongatha when the 2021 season ended with the two teams’ only losses being to each other.

The Power’s key signings include Jack Hutchinson and Ryan Sparkes from nearby Inverloch-Kongwak.

The Magpies are also on the move under second year coach Jack Johnstone, who previously played for arch rival Maffra.

Ryan Pendlebury is returning to play for Sale in 2022. Picture: Celina Whan

Sale will have the services of former Gold Coast key position player Jack Leslie on a full-time basis and Ryan Pendlebury, the younger brother of Collingwood champion Scott, is also back with the club.

They add to a list already boasting recent Trood Award and Rodda Medal winners, Kane Martin and Shannen Lange.

OSBORNE V HOLBROOK

Hume league rivalries don’t come much bigger than Osborne and Holbrook and the two clubs, which are shaping up as premiership contenders this year, do battle in round one.

The Tigers were charging to another flag last year when Covid intervened with second-placed Holbrook only able to get within 11 goals when they last played.

But the tide is turning with the Brookers topping up in the off-season with the signings of former Ovens and Murray league players Michael Oates and Kolby Heiner-Hennessy.

Former junior and 2019 Lavington premiership player Andrew Mackinlay is also back, but the best of the lot could be reigning Tallangatta and District league best and fairest Michael Rampal.

Osborne has lost Sam Stening to Collingullie-Ashmont-Kapooka, Hayden Armstrong to Ainslie and Michael Driscoll is having a crack at Ovens and Murray level with Wodonga.

The Tigers remain coached by former Albury Tigers star Joel Mackie.

ST JOSEPH’S V COLAC

One of the biggest off-season bombshells in the Geelong league was the decision by St Joseph’s best and fairest winner from last year, Henry Walsh, to switch clubs to Colac and the two clubs meet in round one.

Considered one of the league’s brightest prospects, the 202cm giant has parked higher standard aspirations to play for Colac after getting a call up to play for Gold Coast’s VFL team last year.

Walsh’s move to the Colac area for work made him in an obvious recruiting target for the Tigers who are still smarting from the 2019 grand final loss to St Mary’s.

Colac’s Darcy Lang is back with the club on full-time basis. Picture: Alan Barber

Round one also marks the full-time return of Darcy Lang to the Tigers line-up.

St Joseph’s are also quietly confident of pushing into the finals frame after sliding to sixth last year with Joel O’Dwyer and Zac Alderton from the Ovens and Murray and Goulburn Valley leagues respectively expected to make their mark.