Sport
21 December, 2023
Magpies learn their 2024 pathway with fixture release
The Bendigo Football Netball League (BFNL) fixture has been released for 2024, with Maryborough taking centre stage for the first game of the season. They will be travelling to Camp Reserve for a standalone Good Friday match against Castlemaine in...
The Bendigo Football Netball League (BFNL) fixture has been released for 2024, with Maryborough taking centre stage for the first game of the season.
They will be travelling to Camp Reserve for a standalone Good Friday match against Castlemaine in the battle of the BFNL Magpies for their opening round clash on March 29, before returning to action for their first home game on April 20 with a clash with Kangaroo Flat.
The fixture is a radical departure from the usual competition outlook with the departure of Kyneton, with all nine teams now playing 16 games across 18 rounds.
Maryborough’s byes come in round five and round 14, while there will be two general byes across the season — one in round six with a split round, and a bye week between round 11 and round 12 when the BFNL plays against the Victorian Amateur Football Association in an interleague matchup on July 6.
Other highlights for the club includes home games for the Pat Cronin Foundation round in round four against Sandhurst and Indigenous round against Golden Square in round seven.
In preparing for the 2024 season, the Magpies have ramped up their football recruiting drive in recent weeks, successfully luring ex-Carlton draftee Fraser Russell and ex-VFL player Ash Humphrey for a return to the club.
The club have also secured the signatures of Carisbrook youngster Aiden Carter and promising Sandhurst under-18 footballer Seb Collins to bolster the club’s senior stocks in their efforts to secure their first win since their opening game of 2021.
Russell and Humphrey had previously played for the club full-time, with Russell playing six games for the club in 2021, while Humphrey had played full-time with the club from 2019 to 2022.
Collins, a previous junior league best-and-fairest winner with Kangaroo Flat, has signed with Maryborough after missing a year of football, having put in a strong campaign with the Dragons in 2022, while Carter arrives after a good under 17.5 campaign with Carisbrook in 2023.