Wang Derby vol. III

There are some matches which elevate mere sport to an art form – Collingwood vs Carlton, Man City vs Man United, any Ashes cricket match – and the latest chapter in Wangaratta’s own storied sporting rivalry is set to be played on one of the biggest stages in country footy. Saturday’s Ovens and Murray major football semi-final pits minor premiers Wangaratta against two-time defending champions Wangaratta Rovers, with nothing less than a spot in the grand final awaiting the winner. It’s hard to argue this isn’t the biggest game of the season thus far, with the action set for Corowa’s John Foord Oval. The Magpies will enter the encounter refreshed after taking the first week of finals off, while the Rovers are coming off a 73-point win during their opening final against Myrtleford. While they are no strangers to September clashes, the 2026 finals series has a different flavour to even last year – the Magpies, not the Rovers, are the higher-ranked team, and may well hold they key to ultimate glory. Wangaratta coach Jason Heatley said the week off was a perfect opportunity for the players to reset ahead of the finals series. “We just wrote out some programs to the guys, all pretty self-managed, just with some reporting and communication requests, and as you would expect, they were all very diligent,” he said. “We certainly rested the mind and the body still got some work in. “All of our guys are very fresh, but make no mistake, we’re still the hunted, and that will be our psyche.” Despite heading into the match as favourites by dint of their higher ladder position, the Magpies will have to contend with the fact that in four of their last five derby clashes with the Rovers, they’ve come up second best. Heatley said the learning the group has done, both of their own game plan and the opponent, will hold them in good stead. “We certainly knew we had to wind things up a little bit in the run home, our list got healthy as we expected, and we were able to run on top of the ground which is clearly the tone for Saturday,” he said. “We just keep learning, we run a learning program. “To beat the best, and that’s what they are, you’ve got to be prepared to go to work and learn, and you know it’s not easy and you take knocks at times but we think the body of work we’ve put in and the understanding will give us a wonderful opportunity. “That’s all it is right now, an opportunity, and I’m sure they see it the same way.” Wangaratta Rovers had to play last weekend due to missing out on the minor premiership, a fact which football operations manager Mario Antonello said worked in their favour. “If we had a preference, it certainly would be to keep playing as opposed to having the first week off,” he said. “Probably the last three or four weeks, we’ve really hit some good form - there were a couple of tweaks Sam Murray did to our gameplan and starting side, maybe after the Albury loss, so we’ve had time to work on that and we feel like we’re in some really good form. “Just to get some more minutes in how we want to play, it’s not something you can master by not playing, so the more touch, the more competitive finals-like footy we can play, the better for us.” The action kicks off from 2pm on Saturday 5 September at John Foord Oval, Corowa.

Wang Derby vol. III

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