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Hawkins bags four for Finley, ex-Cat and former Magpie make club debuts
Country Footy Scores • April 23rd, 2025 3:29 pm
The Easter weekend saw several leagues take an early whole of competition bye with only 15 in action.
Fourteen of these leagues took advantage of the Good Friday public holiday and the resultant long weekend by hosting games to take advantage of holiday makers around the different region across the state.
The Geelong FNL took extra advantage of being near a coastal holiday centre by playing its standalone game for the round between St Joseph’s FNC and Leopold FNC at Lorne FNC. St Joseph’s ran out 48-point winners, 15.15 105 to 8.9 57, with the victory ending the 7-game winning streak of the Lions.
This upcoming round of matches will see all leagues back in action, including the opening rounds of football and netball for the Golden Rivers FNL and Upper Murray FNL. 22 leagues will also be hosting matches this Friday as part of acknowledging and recognising ANZAC Day in their respective local communities.
While there weren't as many matches as usual this weekend, it didn’t stop some former AFL players from being involved. All roads led to Finley on Good Friday night where a huge crowd saw former Geelong premiership star and Coleman Medallist Tom Hawkins make a long anticipated return to his hometown Cats lineup as they took on their arch rivals Deniliquin FNC. Hawkins managed 4 goals to help his former club rebound from an 170-point loss the week before, running out 15-point winners, 9.10 64 to the Rams 6.13 49.
His Cats premiership teammate Zac Tuohy made his Ballarat FNL debut when he pulled on the number 7 jumper for Bacchus Marsh FNC in their game against East Point FNC. Unlike Hawkins, Tuohy wasn’t able to sing the club song after the Cobras went down by 17 points to the league's early season ladder leaders.
Like Hawkins, former Fremantle Docker Matt Taberner also returned to his home club this weekend, lining up for the Myrtleford FNC in their 35-point loss to Lavington FNC.
In the Goulburn Valley FNL former Collingwood midfielder Callum Brown made his debut for Mansfield FNC, kicking 2 goals and being named in the best as the Eagles had a 44-point win against local rival Seymour FNC.
A quirk in the rules meant that former Port player Tom Clurey, who has returned to play at his former home club of Katamatite FNC this season, took advantage of his side's bye, to line up for Shepparton FNC in their win against co-tenants Shepparton United FNC. As the Picola & District FNL has chosen not to affiliate with AFL Victoria, Clurey can move back and forwards between clubs and leagues until the June 30 clearance deadline. Clurey needs to play 3 games for Shepparton FC during this time to qualify for finals, meaning in theory he could potentially play finals for both teams, going back to Shepparton FNC once Katamatite FNC has finished their season. Katamatite currently sit in 5th place on the Picola & District FNL ladder while Shepparton are equal on top of the GV with Echuca FNC after the first 3 games of 2025.
Unlike last weekend, only 2 forwards got going with bags of 10 goals or more with former Carlton player and reigning Wimmera FNL Best and Fairest Tom Williamson kicking 10 for Ararat FNC in their 41-point win over Stawell FNC, while Cooper Thomason snagged 10 in Bright FNC’s big 158-point win against Tarrawingee FNC in the Ovens and King FNL. This moves him into third palace overall on the leaderboard, 5 behind Greta FNC’s Frazer Judd who has 26 after 4 rounds, however Birchip-Watchem FNC’s Ben Edwards, even with this weekend off, still leads all comers with 28 after 2 rounds of the North Central FNL.
Images from Finley FNC & Bacchus Marsh FNC on Facebook.
For all the latest in country footy, head to Country Footy Scores.
