Footballers and netballers have been energised and refreshed, albeit with frost-bitten extremities, and are ready to charge through the second half of the home and away season.
Reigning senior football premier Murchison-Toolamba sits atop the ladder with the longest win streak in country Victoria.
Meanwhile, A-grade powerhouses Shepparton East and Girgarre look poised for another premiership tilt.
But which sides will find form at the right time as the league plunges into another finals series?
Eagles look to make Violet crumble
A 2024 grand finalist will take on a 2025 riser in a Sunday football spectacular.
Second-placed Shepparton East will host sixth-placed Violet Town at Central Park Recreation Reserve this weekend.
The Eagles have only dropped one match this season (against the Grasshoppers) and look likely to plough deep into finals again.
Dylan Webster-Mill sits second in the league for goals (28), while the big and bustling Jake Sutherland (19) is a difficult match-up for any defender.
But a seventh Eagles win of the season is no lock, as the Towners are back in business this year.
After winning only one match from 16 games in 2024, Violet Town sits on an even keel at 4-4.
However, the Towners have failed in all their challenges against finals-bound teams.
In the three matches against fellow top six sides, Violet Town has an average losing margin of 65.7 points.
The signs of a Towners resurgence look promising, but Violet Town needs to close the gap to the top sides if it wants to stamp its finals credentials.
Sunday’s fixture looms as the perfect occasion.
Swans out to wobble Wombats’ season
After making the A-grade grand final in 2024, Lancaster’s 2025 season remains on a knife’s edge.
Win on Saturday afternoon against Avenel and the Wombats move to a favourable 4-4 record, but should they fall to the fifth-placed Swans and drop to 4-5, their touch with the top six will fade.
Having lost to ladder-leader Shepparton East by 18 goals in its previous match, Lancaster will hope its players return fresh off the bye and can make a charge towards finals.
Avenel is a hard team to read having scraped by 11th-placed Undera to win by six goals last round after pushing third-placed Nagambie to the brink at home (lost by four) the week prior.
The two sides will be eager to start the second half of the season well and it should make for a thrilling Saturday afternoon contest on the court.
In other round nine matches, Murchison-Toolamba hosts Undera, Nagambie travels to Merrigum, Stanhope takes on Longwood and Girgarre plays Rushworth.
What’s Merrigum Football Netball Club’s future?
Doomsayers believe Merrigum Football Netball Club can’t continue in its present situation, with up to 10 players doubling up from its reserves team in order to get a senior side on the field in recent Kyabram District League clashes.
The Bulldogs currently sit at the bottom of the ladder without a win and a percentage of 31.83.
But club president Cam Scorey is optimistic about the club’s future and has heard no talk about it disbanding.
‘‘We have been hit hard of late with a lot of injuries, which has affected our player numbers, but nearly every footy club goes through what we are experiencing at the moment,’’ he said.
Scorey admitted it was a tough act filling senior and reserves sides each week at present, but was confident his club could recover and rebuild.
Scorey said it was difficult, but his club needed to try to field under-18 and under-15 teams next year to have a base for players to progress to the club’s senior ranks.
Merrigum has had 1090 points kicked against it in eight games this season while managing 347 points itself.
Its record isn’t likely to improve this Saturday when it hosts expected finalist Nagambie.
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