April 14, 2014
by Martin Stern
Football South Burnett
Football in the South Burnett is in holiday mode over the school break but will return on Saturday, April 26 with the start of the junior season and continuation of the senior season.
Juniors will kick off in Wondai and play a month’s fixtures there before moving to Nanango for a month, and then to Kingaroy for the remainder of the season.
At this stage there are five Cadet teams (14-16yo), eight 12/13 teams and twelve 10/11 teams as well as record numbers in Under 6’s to Under 9’s.
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Kingaroy Junior Redbacks are running their very successful Subway SQUIRTS Program for 3 to 5 year olds.
The club will commence 6 weeks of SQUIRTS fun from Saturday, July 26 through to September 6, 2014 (but no SQUIRTS on August 9, the Ekka long week-end).
SQUIRTS is a fun football program for 3 to 5 year olds which lets them learn skills, make friends and have fun. It’splayed at the Kingaroy Junior Soccer Fields in Oliver Bond Street, and sessions start at 9:30am.
Early Bird registration packages are $45 and include a Subway water bottle and T-shirt, but they need to be made no later than Saturday, April 26.
After April 26 the registration package jumps to $60 and since Subway stocks are limited, a generic water bottle and T-shirt will be provided if they run out.
On-line registration is available now at by clicking here.
And enquiries can be made to Kristy Carroll (SQUIRTS Registrar) on 0400-961-901.
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When senior football recommences on the 26th, Barambah will play Nanango in Wondai and Wests will play Gunners in Kingaroy.
After three matches, Nanango remain undefeated in all grades.
Teams will be jostling for places in the President’s Cup matches set down for May 17. These matches are held between the top two teams in each grade as of the May 10.
There has been some great football played already this season – particulary the First Division match between Nanango and Gunners on April 2 which was of very high quality indeed.
At this early stage it appears Nanango is still the team to beat in all grades as they have already proven this year.
However, anything can happen in football and often does.
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In First Division:
Nanango are even stronger than last season with the addition of Kyron Tunstall and Kieran Askin; they also have Nick Krauksts and possibly Justin Mangan coming back from injury as well.
But the big improvers are Barambah, who seem to be playing a more disciplined game this season.
Their squad is much stronger with the addition of Sheldon Livingstone, and with Luke Miller starting soon and Joel Sommerfeld returning from the USA for their summer holidays they’ll only get stronger.
The Barambah juniors that have stepped up this season have also been a revelation – especially Ryan Nicholson, who has been consistently strong.
Gunners have again assembled a strong squad despite losing so many players in the off season.
But Wests have struggled getting a consistent team on the park.
However, with the addition of a couple of new players they will be stronger. And I think they were unlucky not to get a point against Nanango last week.
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In Second Division:
The highlight of the Second Division is the number of youngsters that have moved up from Cadets. They have really refreshed that competition and they put South Burnett Football in good stead for the future.
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In the Women’s Division:
In Women’s Division, Nanango are currently in the lead but will face serious challenges from Barambah and Wests.
Barambah at full strength with Elle Mollenhauer is a frightening prospect for any team; their defence has also been solid.
Wests is stronger this season with Courtney and Kerrie Thompson as well as Anna Logan and Chrissy McBride; however they are still getting used to each other’s game.
Gunnettes are still lacking numbers and have struggled because of this. Hhowever they have a good coach in Tracey Clegg, and if they can hang on and enjoy their football while learning they could form a nucleus of a good team.
Rahab Murray, in particular, has been sensational playing as goalkeeper in her first-ever season.
The Nanango women seem to have continued their good form from last season, and Raegan Campbell has stepped up even more from last year and scoring goals up front.
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Top scorers so far this season are:
- 1st Div: Chris O’Loughlin (Barambah), Kyron Tunstall (Nanango) 5, Brendan Kelly (Barambah) 3.
- 2nd Div: John Shaw (Barambah) 2.
- Women: Elle Mollenhauer (Barambah) 7, Raegan Campbell (Nanango) 5
And the league table after the first three rounds is:
