This round saw the continued improvement of most teams in sticking to the FFA National Curriculum and technical points. As always, we would like to congratulate the players, coaches, zone administrators, parents and supporters who work hard to ensure their teams play the right way. I’m sure everyone will be waiting with excitement for the announcement of the first allocation of technical and respect points.

The development to players due to technical points has been immense this season and the benefit can be seen by the general observer – every week we get comments and emails from coaches and casual onlookers commenting on how much the standard has risen since the introduction of these incentives.

After Round Five, Southern Bluetongues remain at the top of the ladder of the Under 13 Boys after their 4-2 win over Central. The anticipated clash between North West and South East was played in a great spirit with the two highly ranked sides defending excellently for a 0-0 result. Other results include 2-0 wins to Western and Loddon Mallee over Gippsland and North East respectively, and 2-1 wins for Eastern (vs Rivers) and Northern (vs Wimmera South Coast).

In the Under 13 Girls, despite a 5-0 win over Central, Southern still remains three points off the top of the table after North East defeated Loddon Mallee 6-0. The only draw this week was a 0-0 between Rivers and Eastern while wins went to North West over South East (2-0), Western over Gippsland (6-1) and Northern over Wimmera South Coast (3-2).

It’s all about the goal difference in the Under 14 Boys as North West hold off Northern at the top of the table due to goal difference. The Wanderers this week had a 3-2 win against South East while Northern also had a one goal win, 1-0 over Wimmera South Coast. In a round with no draws wins also went to Southern (2-1 v Central), Rivers (3-0 v Eastern) and North East (3-0 v Loddon Mallee).

The Under 15 Boys is all about goals with Western having scored 25 in five matches so far to lead the way, they put four of them against Gippsland this week in a 4-0 result. There were two other big results with Northern defeating Wimmera South Coast 6-1 and North East 6-2 over Loddon Mallee. Other results were Eastern 2 over Rivers 0 and the South East 3 over North West 0.

On the subject of South East, they are leading the Under 15 Girls and held their position with an emphatic 7-0 victory over North West. Other matches which saw more than five goals included Southern’s win over Central 5-2, Western over Gippsland in a tight contest 3-2 and North East getting over Loddon Mallee 4-2. There was also a 2-0 win for Rivers over Eastern and a 2-1 result in favour of Northern over Wimmera.

There was a classic in the Under 17 Boys with Southern leap-frogging Central into first position after a 2-1 win in the top of the table clash. Other close matches included Westerns 3-2 victory over Gippsland, Rivers 5-3 over Easter and South East’s 2-0 win over North West. There were bigger margins in Wimmera South Coast’s 7-1 away win against Northern and a 4-1 win for North East over Loddon Mallee.

The Under 17 Girls also saw a change at the top of the table after Loddon Mallee’s 3-1 loss to North East allowed Central to take the number one position following their 6-1 win over Southern. Of note is the 6-5 victory to Eastern over Rivers which must feature as one of the matches of the season. Other results were Northern 3-0 over Wimmera South Coast, Western 2-1 over Gippsland and North West 4-2 over South East.