General News
13 March, 2025
Watch on heat: Practice match times could change
THE EXTREME heat forecast for Saturday is set to disrupt key football and netball practice matches. Temperatures nudging 40 degrees are predicted on the day when many Loddon Valley and North Central teams are scheduled to play. Match umpires will...
THE EXTREME heat forecast for Saturday is set to disrupt key football and netball practice matches.
Temperatures nudging 40 degrees are predicted on the day when many Loddon Valley and North Central teams are scheduled to play.
Match umpires will make the final call on the practice games, with most contests expected to be brought forward to avoid the worst of the heat.
Quarters may be shortened, and teams will be allowed unlimited rotations off the bench.
The long stretch of hot weather, and little rain, has made pre-season training problematic, and with seasons beginning on April 5, clubs may go into matches with players underdone.
Bridgewater’s highly anticipated home matches on Saturday against Calder United, the North Central league’s newly merged club, will now start from 9am.
Senior, reserve and junior matches are scheduled on an oval which has had to rely on a donation of water by Brendan Taig to be in reasonable shape for the coming season.
Mean Machine coach Lachlan Sharp said clubs had to be prepared to be flexible at this time of year.
The match against Calder United is a critical part of Bridgewater’s pre-season preparations, with a young squad set to be selected.
Sharp said the hit out was a chance for younger players to “showcase themselves” and was a reward for their efforts at training.
Calder United, formed from the merger of Wycheproof-Narraport and Nullawil would be “absolute quality”, he said, having impressed recently in a scratch match against Marong, winners of the last three Loddon Valley flags.
“We want to see how we go against the best.”
Inglewood is scheduled to host Goulburn Valley team Merrigum on Saturday, with matches due to begin from 10am.
Wedderburn’s match against Cohuna, coach Tom Metherell’s old side, has been brought forward to 11am, with 39-degree temperatures expected in the afternoon.
Metherell said it was uncertain whether junior and reserves matches would go ahead, with the decision to be made on the day when player numbers were assessed.
Maiden Gully cancelled junior training on Tuesday because of the heat. Newbridge will play Maryborough Castlemaine league side Dunolly on Saturday at home, with a scheduled start time of 10.30am.