Eastern FC hosted Central City at Jubilee Park in Ringwood; South East Cougars playing Northern All Stars at Kingston Heath in Cheltenham; Southern Bluetongues battles Gippsland Knights at White Eagles Stadium in Keysborough; Rivers made the trip down to play North East Diamonds at Namurkah Park in Namurkah; Loddon Mallee welcomed North West Wanderers to Epsom Huntly Reserve in Bendigo; and Western Wolves heading down the highway to Hume Reserve in Geelong to play Wimmera South Coast Eagles.

The Under 13 Girls competition saw close and entertaining matches all round. Northern All Stars played excellently in their 3-1 win over the Cougars; North East Diamonds and Southern Bluetongues had 2-0 wins over Rivers and Gippsland respectively; Eastern defeated Central City 3-0; Wimmera South Coast and Western Wolves also shared the spoils, that match finishing 2-2; while our performers of the week were North West Wanderers, who were down 1-0 at half time but kept their cool, played to the system and won the match 2-1.

The Under 13 Boys competition threw us some interesting matches. This week’s big stars were Southern Bluetongues who had a 5-0 win over Gippsland Knights, though the match was closer than the scores suggest; South East Cougars edged Northern All Stars 3-2; North East Diamonds won their match against Rivers 2-0; Loddon Mallee Lightning and Western Wolves enjoyed 3-0 wins over North West Wanderers and Wimmera South Coast Eagles respectively; while just like the girls match, the keepers were the heroes in the Eastern vs Central match, the game ending 0-0.

The Under 14 Boys saw some big wins, Wanderers beating Lighting 6-0, Wolves beating Eagles 7-0 and Bluetongues beating Knights 8-0. In the other matches, Diamonds beat Rivers 2-0, Central defeated Eastern 3-1 and All Stars defeated Cougars 4-1.

In the Under 15 Girls we saw some solid wins across the board. The biggest was Loddon Mallee’s 10-0 win over North West; North East beat Rivers 7-1; Southern beat Gippsland 5-2; Central defeated Eastern 5-1; South East kept Northern scoreless, winning 4-0; and Wimmera South Coast edged past Western Wolves 2-1. With so many large scorelines this week, it will be very interesting to see what happens next week when some of Sunday’s big winners face off against each other.

Southern Bluetongues kicked off their season in style in the Under 15 Boys with a 5-0 win over Gippsland; Loddon Mallee and North West drew 2-2; from here, it was the away teams who flourished, with Northern defeating South East 4-0; North East putting three past Rivers to win 3-0; Western were too good for Wimmera, winning 7-0; and Central narrowly defeated Eastern 2-1.

The Under 17 Girls was action packed in the opening week. South East built on their 1-0 half time lead over Northern to win 3-1; North East defeated Rivers 6-1; Loddon Mallee were on fire, beating North West 7-0; Wimmera also put in a solid shift, beating Western 6-0; while Southern and Central had 4-1 wins over Gippsland and Eastern respectively.

The Under 17 Boys was possibly the most even competition in week 1, with Southern’s 6-1 win over Gippsland the only one sided result of the round. Loddon Mallee had a sound 2-0 win against North West; South East beat Northern in a thrilling 4-3 encounter; Rivers were also on the winning side of a 4-3 score line against North East; Western Wolves defeated Wimmera South Coast 4-2 in a thoroughly entertaining and skilful contest; and Central City finished the round with a 3-1 win over Eastern.

After all sides have a round under their belts, they will all be gearing up for week 2, which gives us some interesting matchups.

North East Diamonds v Southern Bluetongue @ DISC, Thornbury
Central City v Rivers @ DISC, Thornbury
Gippsland Knights v Loddon Mallee Lightning @ Harold Preston Park, Traralgon
Northern All Stars v Western Wolves @ Harvest Home Reserve, Epping
South East Cougars v Wimmera South Coast Eagles @ Kingston Heath, Cheltenham
North West Wanderers v Eastern FC @ TBC