BY KIERAN ILES
Star Kangaroo Flat midcourter Chelsea Sartori is urging her premiership teammates to embrace being the hunted during the 2026 BFNL season.
The Roos, unbeaten on the way to winning their first A-grade premiership in nine years last season, will launch their flag defence on Good Friday against fellow powerhouse Gisborne at Gardiner Reserve.
Always fierce rivals on the netball court, Kangaroo Flat and Gisborne – together with Sandhurst – are expected to again feature in the top echelon of the A-grade ranks this season.
The Roos will head into the season with a bit of a fresh look, without midcourter Milly Wicks (Western Australia) and defenders Ingrid Hopkins (retired) and Stephanie Green, who has returned to South Bendigo.
Elevated to training partner status with Melbourne Mavericks, Teal Hocking will likely play just a handful of regular season games while representing the Mavs reserves team and Bendigo Strikers.
Sartori said this would open opportunities for the likes of Ella Wicks, Ava Lowndes, Ava Hamilton and Bronte Deary, all members of last year’s A-reserve flag-winning line-up and who have featured at A-grade level before.
“We are fortunate we have a lot of depth in our A squad that we can bring girls up,” she said.
“We haven’t essentially recruited anyone as yet, but it’s time for players like Megan Wilson to step up and really own their position now.
“And it would be nice to reward the A-reserve girls and even some of the under-17s throughout the season to see a bit of growth within the club.
“We want to cultivate the future so they are ready to go when it’s their time.
“You just never know what will happen. I’m getting older; so is Ash and Abbey (Ryan) and Alicia (McGlashan), so we’ve got to look to the future.”
Having put years of grand final and preliminary final heartache behind them with last season’s 59-51 grand final triumph over Sandhurst, the Roos’ dual Betty Thompson medallist said she was eager to see Kangaroo Flat raise the bar in 2026.
“We want to set it even higher … it’s a different feel going into this year,” she said.
“We’re the hunted, we’re not doing the hunting. We’re no longer a team going into a season after losing the grand final; hat team that can go in with a little bit more hunger.
“This year the tables have turned.
“But I’m confident we can do it again; we just need to take each game as it comes and work on things that were a bit of a weakness for us last year.
“Friday (against Gisborne) will be about us playing our game.
“I feel we have gotten much better with ball in hand and making sure we are scoring off our centre passes.
“Realistically, all you need to do us be up by one at the end of every quarter to win the game., so it’s important for us to have a strong start.
“We know Gisborne will be tough and have recruited well, so we’ll need to step up to become even better than we were last year.”
The Bulldogs will be hoping to unveil recruits Tilly Shepherd and Charlee Duff-Tytler against the Roos.
Shepherd, no stranger to the BFNL having previously played at Kyneton, returns to the league following a pair of Riddell District league best and fairests in 2024-25.
The defender is a VNL championship teammate of star Bulldogs Kirby Elliott and Charlee Kemp at Melbourne University Lightning.
Young goal shooter Duff-Tytler has made the move across from Woodend-Hesket and looms as a key to the Bulldogs’ hopes alongside 2024 grand final best on court medallist Torie Skrijel, with star goal attack Claudia Mawson sidelined with a shoulder injury.
Dual premiership coach Tarryn Rymer said her side welcomed the tough first-up challenge.
“We’re really looking forward to having a hit-out against Kangaroo Flat; they’re obviously going to be the benchmark,” she said.
“The girls have had a pretty solid pre-season.
“Obviously we want to win a grand final – that’s the ultimate motivation for any team.
“We finished top three last year, but we’d definitely like to finish higher up the ladder this year.
“Winning a grand final is the expectation and to be successful in all grades, and to develop our youth in the process.
“But there’s a lot of work to be done.”
Aside from the injured Mawson, Gisborne will be without former SSN defender Zoe Davies this season.
From the Bulldogs’ back-to-back 2023-24 premiership sides, Elliott, Kemp, Skrijel and midcourter Emerson Lakey remain.
While their first round opponents have undergone some change, Rymer tipped the Roos to be as formidable as ever.
“They didn’t lose a game last season, so they are certainly going to be the team to beat,” she said.
“Everyone will be chasing them, not just us.
“They have a lot of depth and can generally cover any gaps pretty quickly.”
In other round one games, Sandhurst hosts Eaglehawk at the QEO on Saturday; Strathfieldsaye clashes with standalone round zero winners South Bendigo on Good Friday; and making a return to A-grade, Castlemaine takes on Golden Square at Camp Reserve.
