After a year full of glorious victory, heart-rending losses, hard work and sacrifice, the 2026 Ovens and King senior football competition comes down to this, and what a match it is. Bright takes on Whorouly in the biggest match of the season this Saturday at WJ Findlay Oval, and the two teams from up the Ovens River are primed and ready. It seems every 20 or so years, the wheel spins and the two sides find themselves sharing the field in the last match of the year. They previously met in the 2007 decider, which was won by Whorouly, but their last encounter before that was in 1987, which went the way of the Mountain Men. If recent results are any indication, we’re in for an absolute cracking match – honours were split during the home and away season, but Bright completely hammered the Lions in their semi-final, 15.17 (107) to 12.8 (80). Bright are the reigning champions, and they’ve returned to grand final day with a different-looking side, but one just as strong. Luke Quirk is one of the best forwards in the league, having kicked 77 goals to date, but with Michael Elliott and the Jamieson boys down back, Sam Dalbosco in the middle, and handy talent in Bernie Ruaro and Jack Larkin, there’s a lot to like about the Mountain Men. Add to that they’ve got grand final experience and a hunger to embarrass the minor premiers in Whorouly, as they did in the semi-final, and Bright looks immensely formidable. Three-time O&K premiership coach Michael Quirk said to be in the grand final was a massive validation for the entire group on and off the field. “It's a great reward for all the hard work both the players and club have put in together throughout the season,” he said. “The personnel has changed significantly from last year. “We lost a core group of six players from the 2025 team which included Cooper Thomason, Cy Banks, and Will Shem, but that allowed us to have more goal kicking options and develop some youth in our midfield which has been pleasing.” After all the hard work which goes into a season, Quirk said grand finals were a different beast, and the better team on the day would prevail. “History has shown, you can have the best-laid plans in place for the game but they can be turned upside down very early on through injuries and other surprises,” he said. On the other side of the equation sits the Lions, minor premiers and eager to break a 19-year-long flag drought. With a handful of Team of the Year players, including twin towers across half back in Max Scott and Nic Carney, as well as Ed Bramich in the ruck and coach Michael Newton coming out of the goal square, the Lions are a dangerous outfit. After so many years starved of success, a win would mean the world to the small community as well as the families which make it up. “There’s always history with grand finals, you always have to look at when the last premiership was, and there’s been a fairly long time between grand final appearances for our club, 2007 was our last flag and we won both grades that day, so hopefully we can replicate it this year,” Newton said. “As a club, to be able to come up against Bright, the old foes, it’s going to be a really good challenge. “They taught us a lesson in the first final so we’ve got to evolve and make sure we don’t try and do the same thing twice because most likely we’ll fail. “We’ve got to use the footy well and get it on our terms. “They’ve got some good clearance players in there, they’ve got some good players up forward which got ahold of us last time and we played into their defenders’ hands a little bit with the way we moved the footy forward. “We’ve got to change things up, and we will.” Bright takes on Whorouly in the 2026 OKFNL senior football grand final on Saturday 12 September at WJ Findlay Oval from 2.15pm.
