BFNL Grand Final Football Recap | Anglesea Breaks Premiership Drought

Anglesea are the 2025 BFNL Dow Senior Football premiers, ending a 26-year wait with a thrilling 13-point win over Geelong Amateur at Grinter Reserve on Saturday.

Trailing by seven points at the final break, the Roos surged home in front of a sea of blue and white, kicking four of the last five goals to secure their first senior premiership since 1999, winning 14.10 (94) to 12.9 (81).

“Right now, it’s pretty amazing to see all the people that’ve come,” co-captain James Carr told aflbarwon.com.au after the match.

“It was 1999 when we won our last flag, so it means a lot to a lot of people—and we’re going to celebrate this one pretty hard.”

Anglesea started strongly, booting five first-quarter goals to open up a 17-point lead at the first break. The second term was evenly contested, with both sides trading goals.

Geelong Amateur then mounted a strong challenge in the third quarter, slamming through six goals to two and turning the deficit into a seven-point lead heading into the final term.

With 10 minutes remaining, the game was on a knife’s edge before Anglesea’s Will Batson and Declan Everett kicked back-to-back goals to wrestle back a 10-point advantage.

Ammos responded through Archer Hanegraaf to close the gap to four, but a clutch late goal from Max Virgona sealed the historic win for the Roos.

“Ammos have been the benchmark all year and we knew they’d come at us,” Carr said.

“In that third quarter they got on top, but to our credit we reset at three-quarter time, got the game back on our terms, and managed to get away with the result—which is pretty exciting.”

Harry Ling was awarded the inaugural Josh Finch Medal for best on ground, delivering a complete performance with 28 disposals, 13 tackles, nine one-percenters, and three goals.

Earlier in the day, Geelong Amateur defeated Torquay by nine-points to claim the Buckley’s Reserve Cup premiership.

Barwon Heads were victorious in the Rookie Me U18 Division Two Grand Final, with a dominant 52-point win over Colac.

BFNL Senior Football Dow Cup Grand Final

GEELONG AMATEUR 2.3, 5.5, 11.6, 12.9 (81)
ANGLESEA 5.2, 8.4, 10.6, 14.10 (94)
GOALS: Geelong Amateur: S. Lloyd 3, M. Day, L. Reilly, J. Maishman, H. Kershaw, L. Hillier, T. Gribble, C. Green, B. Sutterby, A. Hanegraaf
GOALS: Anglesea: W. Batson 3, H. Ling 3, A. Gras, J. Walters, D. Kerr, S. Umbers, J. King, D. Everett, M. Virgona, N. Collins
BEST: Geelong Amateur: D. Weigl, J. Maishman, R. Ferguson, D. Grose, A. Hanegraaf, H. Shepheard
BEST: Anglesea: H. Ling, C. Hutchinson, W. Batson, J. Keras, T. Nofi, S. Leeds

Buckley’s Reserves Cup Grand Final

GEELONG AMATEUR 1.2, 2.6, 5.9, 6.12 (48)
TORQUAY 3.0, 5.2, 5.2, 6.3 (39)
GOALS: Geelong Amateur: T. Gorrell 2, R. Mattner 2, C. Diana 1, D. Edwards 1
GOALS: Torquay: S. Hooper 2, H. Goode 1, L. Renfrey 1, J. Ward 1, J. Windus 1

Rookie Me U18 Division Two Grand Final

BARWON HEADS 2.2, 5.4, 9.5, 12.8 (80)
COLAC 0.2, 2.3, 3.3, 4.4 (28)
GOALS: Barwon Heads: T. Mcencroe 4, C. Bompass 2, C. Shier 2, J. Bartley 1, T. Bishop 1, G. Burgess 1, H. Happell 1
GOALS: Colac: H. Barber 1, K. Fraser 1, J. Hay 1, A. Makuey 1