The Rovers are ready for finals

After 18 rounds of gruelling home and away matches, now the real fun begins. The 2026 SS&A Ovens and Murray Football Netball League finals series is upon us, with Saturday’s blockbusters at the Wangaratta Showgrounds kicking off four weeks of incredible sport, culminating in the fight for the biggest prize in country sport, the grand final. Wangaratta Rovers are in action this weekend, with the back-to-back premiers entering the postseason from second, with Saturday’s senior qualifying final against Myrtleford Saints set to kickstart the finals series with a bang. Despite leading the league for large parts of the season, the Rovers were denied the week off by rivals Wangaratta Magpies taking the minor premiership, making their path the three-peat just that extra bit challenging. Rovers football operations manager Mario Antonello said getting stuck right into the finals would benefit the group. “The goal was always the top-three finish, so that’s a tick – anywhere we’d finish with the double chance, we’d be rapt,” he said. “I think we found last year finishing first, you probably have too many weeks off. “You have a week off for the first final, then if you have a win you have another week off, and we felt underdone going into the granny last year and it probably showed by the closeness of that game. “The boys are feeling good, they’re all ready to go, ready for finals – we’re probably lucky they didn’t come a few weeks ago “It’s going to be a good few weeks, everyone’s pumped.” The qualifying final will have a sense of deja-vu for the Rovers, set to take on the Saints just a week after their round 18 encounter, which ended in a 12.15 (87) to 8.7 (55) win for the brown and gold. After getting rolled the first time they met back in round 10, this weekend is not only a chance to advance their quest to establish a dynasty, but to prove to themselves they’re the best team in the competition. Antonello said playing an opponent in a final so soon after a regular season match had its pros and cons, but the entire squad was eager to get stuck in. “We rested a couple last week so they’ll come back in this week, everyone should be pretty well cherry-ripe,” he said “We actually can’t wait, everything’s been dialled up a fair bit, and Muz [coach Sam Murray] goes to a new level this time of year, he’s a very good coach, very tactical, he’s fine-tuning a few things. “They probably needed to play their best available side on the weekend just gone because had Maggies slipped up, Wodonga would’ve leapfrogged them into third, so they had their best team available. “I don’t know if their team changes a hell of a lot from last week, so it was good to be able to see them and what we’re probably going to come up against, that’s an advantage, but it’s probably an advantage for them as well. “It’s going to be a really good contest because they did us pretty easily the first time we played them, and we didn’t kick straight at all again on the weekend.” Wangaratta Rovers take on Myrtleford this Saturday at the Wangaratta Showgrounds in the qualifying final, set for a 2pm start. They won’t be the only local footy side in action this weekend. The Magpies reserves take on Albury from 11.45am before the senior hitout, while a derby clash in the thirds kicks off the day from 9.30am.

The Rovers are ready for finals

Wangaratta Chronicle, Wednesday, August 26, 2026

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