GNFL week one finals: Blues and Royals dance for a spot in the grand final, Towns and Brigades do-or-die

The Great Northern Football League is setting up its main event of the year with finals kicking off this weekend and four teams in the running for the silverware in 2025. Railways and Chapman Valley have been the most dominant teams all season and will square off in Saturday’s qualifying final at the Rec, after the Blues finished on top thanks to a higher percentage. Towns and Brigades will battle it out in the elimination final at WA Country Builders Stadium on Sunday. The two powerhouses in Railways and Chapman Valley will go head-to-head for the first time with full strength teams. Their previous three encounters in 2025 resulted in two wins for Railways and one win for the Royals. Blues’ coach John Reynolds said he was looking forward to throwing his strongest magnets on the board. “It’s been probably one of the challenges throughout the year — putting the best side on the park,” he said. “We have over the last three to four weeks, really tried to have some good player management systems in place. “So we’re going to go into this weekend with 99 per cent selection availability, which is a really good avenue going into finals.” Railways have made the most of their run home into finals with three big wins against Rovers, Mullewa and Northampton as they now prepare for their biggest challenge to date — facing the reigning premiers at full strength. “I know some people say, ’you really want a hard game going into finals so you can set yourselves up’,” Reynolds said. “But we’ve been able to have those three games where we’ve won comfortably, and it probably has given us a little bit of play in managing some of our players with that without getting too far ahead of ourselves. “So I think that’s played in our favour. “We did play a lot of away games early, so it was really nice to play back at the Rec the last few games.” Chapman Valley, on the other hand, haven’t played at their home of Mazzuchelli Oval since round 13 when they defeated Railways by 35-points and haven’t had a bye since round 11. Royals player-coach Jayden Schofield said it was not something worrying the playing group. “There is a lot of workload, but we’ve been having lighter sessions from time to time during the week, doing recovery and stuff like that do it doesn’t phase us,” he said. “We’re managing as best we can but that’s the way the fixtures have fallen. “So you got to deal with what’s in front of you.” The clash promises to be one of the season’s most hotly-contested battles. “I’m sure the first five minutes is just going to be really hot, contested football until one team can break the other team,” Reynolds said. “This is a extremely important game for us and and look, I don’t think either of us have hit each other with full strength sides. “We’re up for the challenge and we’re extremely excited about this one.” For Schofield and Chapman Valley it’s something that the Royals are looking forward to. “Why not play each other at full strength,” Schofield questioned. “Can’t wait for the game to really see where we’re at, and see where they’re at. “It’ll be just a contest this week, smaller ground at Railways — might be wet. “It’s just going to be who wants it more.” The other final taking place this weekend is a do-or-die battle between Towns and Brigades. All season it has been a fight for third spot between the Bulldogs and Hawks in what has been a real arm-wrestle for points on the ladder. Their first meeting came late in round 10 where Towns managed to out-muscle Brigades by 30 points at GBSC Sports Park which saw Towns’ Arthur Garlett and Jaylen Parsons boot three goals each, leading the Dogs to victory. In their second meeting it was Brigades that split the difference and snatched an important win on the road in the Dogs’ backyard by 15 points. But now they meet one last time, with only one able to keep their season alive. FINALS FIXTURES Saturday, August 30 at The Rec Qualifying finals League: Railways (1) vs Chapman Valley (2) Women: Chapman Valley (1) vs Towns (2) Reserves: Towns (1) vs Railways (2) Colts: Railways (1) vs Mullewa (2) Sunday, August 31 at WA Country Builders Stadium Elimination finals League: Towns (3) vs Brigades (4) Women: Brigades (3) vs Railways (4) Reserves: Chapman Valley (3) vs Brigades (4) Colts: Brigades (3) vs Towns (4) Game times: 9.15am (colts), 11am (reserves), 12.45pm (women), 2.40pm (league)