Sport

Magpies under-17s looking to swoop on title

By Oliver Shedden

Sep 18, 2025

Campbell McCarty and Moama will look to uspset Luca Orsida and Cobram in Saturday’s under-17 decider. Photo: Jordan Townrow

Moama’s under-17 side will come up against the cut-and-dried best team in the competition, Cobram, for the Murray Football League premiership on Saturday.

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Despite falling once in the home and away season to the Tigers in a 23-point round eight rock fight, the Magpies snapped their unbeaten streak in the second semi-final, overcoming the Tigers by eight points for direct qualification.

Cobram, being forced to go the long way around, overcame Mulwala in the preliminary final by 34 points to book a date between the two most formidable sides in 2025 for the decider.

Moama coach Rob Hogan reflected on the season that was for his side, overcoming obstacles through a close bond.

“We've had an excellent season so far, we've improved incredibly throughout the year,” he said.

“We've had many players unavailable throughout the year with boys away at school, had some injuries, we've had boys up playing seniors and so on.

“So, the improvement of the whole group has probably got us to where we are at the moment.

“They're an extremely tight group of boys, they're really good mates off the field as well as on the field, and that shows in the way that they play.

“The feeling has been that we've just been getting better and better every week and, hopefully, this will all culminate in a win on the weekend.”

Hogan highlighted the Magpies’ interesting road through the finals and previewed the grand final, which he anticipates to be an absolute bumper.

“It's been an interesting one, we've had the first week off because we've finished top two, and then we won last week, so we've had another week off,” he said.

“Which is probably not ideal coming into finals when you want a bit of continuity, but we've had a few little niggling injuries, so it’s been a chance to really freshen up, so we're fully fit and ready to go for Saturday.

“They've (Cobram) been the best side all year, they hadn't lost a game until we beat them in the second semi-final.

“We have been getting better and better every week, both sides are at full strength and it should be a really great game of junior footy.

“We’ve gone to another level over the last month or so, it'll be a really tight battle.

“It won't be won at the start of the game, it'll go right down to the wire, but I'd back us in any day of the week in that situation.”

The under-17 grand final will start at 10.30am at Moama Recreation Reserve.