GNFL Round 16 preview: Railways to cement minor premiership as Chapman Valley look to finish season on a high

The GNFL minor premiership should be claimed by Railways this weekend as they take on Mullewa in their last match before finals. Railways are four points and 20 percentage points clear of Brigades in second after defeating them last weekend and will likely claim the top spot regardless of the result. However, they will still want a good hit-out to keep their recent form going into finals. They have won their past three games in a row, including two wins over teams inside the top four. On the flip side, Mullewa has lost their past three games in a row, including an 81-point thumping at the hands of Chapman Valley in round 14. In the previous meetings between the sides Railways have been big winners, going past the 100-point mark on both occasions, and the Blues will surely be winners again on the weekend. Jack Cocking has been excellent and played one of his best games against the Brigades last week, while Jesse Adamini has the most best player nominations of anyone this season with 10 and is third on the goal-kicking charts with 34. Mullewa have a few standout players of their own in Leon Galby, who has been a reliable target up forward along with Callum Papertalk, while Kristian Papertalk has eight player nominations in 12 games to sit seventh on the list. Regardless of the result on the weekend, the Saints should be pleased with their year after winning for the first time in three years in round six. They have gone on to grab two more wins and have something to build on for next year. The other match will see Chapman Valley and Towns play for pride after the Royals’ season was ended at the hands of the Rams last weekend. After being well off the pace at the start of the year, Chapman Valley vaulted themselves into finals contention by winning four out of their five games heading into the crunch clash against Northampton. Unfortunately, like their season, they got off to a poor start and ultimately left themselves with too much work to do despite a late fightback in the final quarter. Even though their season is over in terms of finals, coach Aaron Thomas was extremely proud of how the team was able to mount a late-season charge. “We had 21 players out at one stage earlier in the year due to COVID, injuries and bad luck,” he said. “The whole club really got around the group and how they played through the second half of the season was excellent. “The average age of our group is around 23 so we’re in a real sweet spot. We’ll look to bring in some experience in the off-season and providing everyone goes about it the right way in the off-season, we could be in for a real exciting season next year.” They will finish in fifth well clear of those below, with most of their wins coming in the back half of the season, and will hope to finish their season on a high against Towns this week. The Bulldogs will be happy to see the back of a wretched season that has seen them pick up just the one win back in round four across their 11 games, including a nadir 108-point loss at the hands of Brigades. Despite the poor record the previous meetings between these sides have been relatively close, with their most recent clash being decided by just 10 points as Towns led for the first three quarters of the match. Thomas isn’t expecting an easy match. “Both times we’ve played Towns it’s been really tough games; results haven’t gone their way but they got some great young players,” he said. With nothing left to lose for either side it could come down to simply who wants it more and the Bulldogs will be desperate to ring out their club song, but it is hard to see how they will manage it. The last round of the GNFL is split. This weekend will see Chapman Valley take on Towns on Saturday at Country Builders Stadium at 1.30pm, while Railways will host Mullewa in a Sunday clash at 1.30pm.