Right when it was needed most, the Peakers stood up.

And we mean right up!

Madonna’s Peakers not only ran their winning streak to eight consecutive matches in this season’s Neville Richards Premier League, they obliterated records in doing so.

The Peakers set the highest score and the greatest victory margin (in a completed match) in league history to become worthy 2025 champions.

And while our stats might not have world-leading veracity, we’re pretty sure that having 33 (twice!) as the lowest counting score actually blows all other vaguely similar achievements off the park.

And all in a grand final!

The Peakers racked up 290 points (that’s an average of 36.25 per counting score!!!!) to simply blow away the 20-Acre Warriors on 248.

The female triumvirate of Jan Cogger (38), Angela Foott (36) and Jeanette Johnson (34) were all spectacular, but they were matched by Cam O’Keefe (39) who amazingly lost a countback to Craig FInnemore (39) for the honour of becoming the first Peter Solohub Medal winner as the best afield in the grand final.

And with Warren Stephenson (36), Lloyd Shepherd (35) also bettering the Warriors’ best – Kris Geary on 34 – the result was set in stone VERY early.

So a mighty congrats to the blue and white juggernaut and to all those who tipped them in the big one!

The party extended into the evening with the presentation ceremony to honour all the grand achievers of a spectacular fourth season.

In addition to the day’s big winners and the Crusaders team that won the Survivor competition a few weeks earlier, the All Portarlington team was named.

The team (with two from each of the six male grades and three from the combined female pool) comprises:

Angela Royal (Bullies)

Jeanette Johnson (Peakers)

Sheree Geall (Crusaders)

Stephen Smith (Goblins)

Xavier Boland (Crusaders)

Rob Moorcroft (Tornadoes)

Brian Bell (Goblins)

Chris Dodds (Tornadoes)

Cliff McCorkell (Pirates)

David Milne (Goblins)

Jeff Evans (Warriors)

John Dickson (Goblins)

Adam Shawcross (Crusaders)

Ross Moreland (Bullies)

 

Conversely, the PPP team was also named, “celebrating” the performances that, shall we say politely, didn’t quite have the same polish as their All Port clubmates’ efforts.

The PPP team:

Shirley Bell (Warriors)

Fran Stone (Goblins)

Jacky Rowe (Bullies)

Alan Kerry (Peakers)

John Powe (Pirates)

Barry Doyle (Bullies)

Mannie Golfis (Pirates)

Lloyd Shepherd (Peakers)

Ken Latta (Pirates)

Darren Wilson (Tornadoes)

Peter O’Neill (Tornadoes)

Craig Finnemore (Peakers)

Grant Peacock (Goblins)

Justin McGrath (Pirates)

Andrius Belkus (Hookers)

 

Those assembled gave hearty thanks to Luke Campbell, the boss of naming rights partner Neville Richards, for turning up and engaging in the shenanigans until he could understand them no longer.

And they were delighted to have Lana Purcell in attendance, with the CEO and founder of Feed Me Bellarine delighted to pocket an amazing tally of $2010 raised by all players through the season for purchasing “replacement players”.

And then it was down to the big Drayton Medal count that featured a runaway early leader in Xavier Boland, who had three “three-vote” games and one other two-vote effort in the first four rounds to sit on 11 votes.

Xavier, through school, injuries and plain old “getting out of bed” issues, only played eight of a possible 14 matches, so it appeared as though some in the field would run him down.

But as hard as Cam O’Keefe (10.5 votes), Rob Moorcroft (9.333), Brian Bell (8.75) and John Dickson (8.333) tried, nobody could catch the tearaway junior.

So Xavier Boland joins the pantheon of Neville Richards Premier League greats that also includes Yani Lathouris, Peter O’Neill and Max Edmanson.

Which brings us to the end of another great season!

Thanks to all for being involved and taking all the correspondence with a grain of salt as it was intended.

See you all in season 2026!

 

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