Division 2 is shaping up to be a very even competition in 2026 and Round 1 proved exactly that.
Immediately after such a thrilling win like Northcote Park’s win over the Fitzroy Stars on Saturday night, one could be excused for thinking there was some relief.
However, Cougars coach Anthony Palmer has a lot of ambition for his charges this season, and immediately set about shifting his focus to a round two date when they make the trip to Cracknell Reserve to take on Panton Hill – and who can blame him? Like many other good judges, he says the competition is too tight to take things a bit lightly after winning such a crucial game.
“Every game is going to be a challenge. The Division is really tight. I don’t think there’s as big a gap from the top teams to the fourth, fifth and sixth as there was last year,” he said.
The Cougars’ 12.9 (81) to 10.13 (73) victory over the Stars at Bill Lawry Oval came about thanks to a fast start which saw them kick four of the first five goals, before having to come up with answers to all of the Stars questions – a task that was achieved successfully.
It was a historic meeting for the two teams – the first between the two teams after Fitzroy Stars’ successful lobbying to the league all the way back in 2007, with Northcote Park one of the teams advocating for the Stars to come in despite the knowledge of a player exodus to the Stars if their application was successful.
That made for the first edition of the Brown Cup, named after Mungara, Alan and Kaelun Brown for the service they’ve given to both the Cougars and the Stars. Indeed, it was a big night for the two clubs enjoying a standalone contest.
Just twice after the Cougars’ initial burst did either team manage back-to-back goals, although Northcote Park did come up with the most crucial run with two goals between the third and last quarter to establish just enough of a break to withstand one last furious Stars burst.
In full, it was a thrilling contest played at breakneck speed as both teams wanted to move the footy with gusto – all thanks to both teams employing a similar game plan. Move the footy fast, hit short 45s, utilise the run and open spaces as much as possible.
Palmer said it’s not quite a perfect formula yet for his charges, and did say he wanted the pace to be controlled just a touch more.
“It was a little bit of the team who made less mistakes were going to win, but they do play a similar style to what we played. It was a little fast for us at times, and we probably didn’t change gears enough. We should have slowed down at certain times, but when we really needed to slow it down at the end, we did it, and we did it well. But there’s times during the game that I felt we could have slowed it down more than we did,” he said.
“We like to move it quick when we can. We had seven debutants in, so it will take a while for us to gel completely. They haven’t all played during the pre-season games, three of them didn’t play a pre-season game that we put on ice. We have a lot of development to go for this year.”
However, Palmer believes 2026 is a year where the Cougars can strike after a finals appearance in 2025.
“We’ve spent a couple of years getting to this stage – it’s not just something we’ve thrown together. It’s been a bit of a journey for us, and we feel like this year is the year we can perhaps fulfil some of the ambition that we have,” he said.
Samuel and Leo Amad were adjudged Palmer’s best players, while Jordan Perry provided plenty of drive through the midfield, Ricky Fandrich excited the crowd, particularly with a sterling long-range soccer goal in the opening term, while Matt Perry and Charlie Fawcett were also named in the best for the Cougars.
For the Stars, Elijah Taylor delivered with an exciting game which also included a highlight goal of his own in the opening term, while Ethan Penrith, Patrick Farrant, Kain Proctor, Muna Brown and Kyle Thomas were named in Neville Jetta’s best players.
Palmer said the game was played in excellent spirits and looked forward to seeing how the Stars progressed back in Division 2.
“To get the four points first up was a really good effort. We didn’t really want to play it the way we played it, but the way we handled it when Fitzroy Stars came at us was sensational,” he said.
“It was played in a good spirit, and we were lucky enough to get on top, it was hard fought, and they’re a pretty handy team. They’ll trouble a lot of teams in Division 2.”
Playing a standalone game on a Saturday night was also a highlight, and Palmer advocated for more night footy – something the Cougars can do with ease.
“There should be more of it. It gives people something to do on a Saturday night, but it’s like the standalone games on Good Friday that always attract a crowd,” he said.
The next task for Palmer and his men is a clash at Panton Hill on Saturday. The opportunity to go 2-0 is there, but Palmer says the Cougars will have to be on to score another win, having seen the Redbacks first hand before his game on Saturday afternoon.
“They have had some good wins there (at Cracknell Reserve) in the past. They are young, excited and fit, and they gave Thomastown a bit of trouble for a while, while I was there in the first half,” he said.
-Michael Thompson (via The Northern Footy Show)
Image also supplied by TNFS.
Around the Grounds
St Mary’s opened its account with a hard-fought eight-point win over Macleod at Whatmough Park in the NFNL’s Match of the Round.
There wasn’t much separating two of Division 2’s finalists from last season all day, with St Mary’s two-goal quarter time lead the biggest margin of the three breaks in play. Despite some inaccuracy in front of goal, the Burras did enough in the final term to hold off a similarly inaccurate Macleod side who were left to rue a final quarter which yielded 2.5.
Dom Akuei was the standout for the home side and was well supported by Rory Hanlon, Connor Kissane and Joseph Maggio. Wil Ryan finished the day with three goals for the Burras.
Macleod will take some confidence from this game, knowing that a better performance in front of the big sticks would have potentially turned the result in their favour. Kurt Manuel, Lachlan Barrett, Kobe Brandt and Gabriel Narkiewicz were best for the Kangaroos.
Old Paradians showed some early season promise with a win on the road against Lower Plenty. After a low scoring first term, the visitors piled on 5.5 to Lower Plenty’s 1.4 to take a 19-point lead into the main break. The Bears responded after half time, cutting the margin to 13 points at the final change and then just seven points with the first goal of the final quarter.
But the Raiders found another gear, booting three of the final four goals to put the result out of reach. Connor McDonald was best afield for Old Paradians, along with Joshua Iacobaccio, Sam Philp and Anthony Cafari.
Jack Magden booted three goals for Lower Plenty in a great individual performance, while Nathan Raphael, Ciaran Porter and Joel Leslie also had good days.
Thomastown scored a 17-point win over Panton Hill at Main Street Reserve. After both sides found wins hard to come by in 2025, the Bears will be glad to get four premiership points on the board early.
This was another fixture which was an arm-wrestle for most of the day, but Thomastown did enough with standout performances from Lawrence Lo Piccolo and skipper Anthony Capeci (three goals).
For the Redbacks they were given good service by Ben Donehue, Luke Oakley and Riley Livingstone, but will be hoping to notch their first win when they host Northcote Park next weekend.
Whittlesea has earmarked itself as a team to watch in Division 2 this season, with a 30-point win over 2025 Division 1 side South Morang. Both sides gave a good account of themselves in the first half despite tricky weather conditions, but the Eagles found themselves two goals in front at the main break.
The third quarter was the gap in the game, as Whittlesea piled on six goals to the Lions’ two as they turned for home with a sizeable 36-point advantage. It proved to be more than enough despite South Morang winning the last quarter, as the Eagles opened their account for 2026.
Caden Allen was the focal point for Whittlesea with five goals for the afternoon, along with Bailey Robinson, Taidhg Bland and Thomas Falls in the best. For South Morang, Tyrone Leonardis was best afield, along with Josh Lansfield (four goals) Tyson Gresham and Alex Kirkopolous.
