BFNL: Maryborough keen to start 150th party with a victory

The Magpies celebrate their 150th anniversary this weekend, with hundreds of people to attend a gala function on Saturday night.

Andrews, one of Maryborough's most decorated players, would love nothing more than to set the tone for a big party by defeating Kangaroo Flat and recording the club's first win of 2022.

"It's our grand final, let's be honest,'' Andrews said.

"We know that we have to be up for this week (Kangaroo Flat) and the week after (Castlemaine).

"The 150th celebrations is a big weekend for the club. There's going to be a lot of ex-players back at the club, which will be great, and we want to play our part by playing some good footy."

At first glance the final margins mightn't show it, but the Magpies have played some good footy since the bye.

Last week's 75-point loss to Kyneton was a much improved performance from the young Pies.

An eight goal unanswered burst in the second quarter was the major difference between the two sides.

The way the Pies played for the other three quarters was good enough to suggest they could be in the game for a long time against Kangaroo Flat.

"Playing better for longer is what we're about,'' Andrews said.

"If we can stay in the game until the final quarter then you just never know what could happen."

The Pies will again be without VFL-listed midfielder Jacob Lohmann.

Rather than bemoan the fact the club's best player was unavailable, Andrews focused on the bigger picture.

"He's a very talented player and we want him to play the best footy he can,'' Andrews said.

"It's the same for Aidan Hare and Liam Latch. They're two young kids that are having great seasons with us and next year they could have a crack at that level.

"We want to be a club that promotes their young players to be the best they can."

Maryborough FNC president Kelvin Noonan said Saturday night's celebration at the Maryborough Harness Racing Club promised to be a great night for the Magpies.

"We are expecting more than 300 people at the function, which is a fantastic response,'' Noonan said.

"Maryborough's most well-known player (Carlton champion) John Nicholls is our guest speaker and (former Collingwood great) Des Tuddenham will be there, who played a lot of footy against John and they're great mates.

"Ron Branton, probably our second most well-known player from an AFL perspective, captained Richmond in the 1960s and he's going to be there as well.

"It should be a great celebration of 150 years of existence. We started in the Ballarat league, then went to the Bendigo league, crossed back to Ballarat and then back to Bendigo. It's been a remarkable journey."

Noonan said some of the club's most decorated players were returning for the 150th celebrations.

"We have tables for the 1998 and 1999 Bendigo league premiership teams and then 1972 and 1974 Ballarat league premiership teams,'' he said.

"We'll have people representing different eras to explain what happened at the club.

"We're really looking forward to a good day and night."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: