By Jack Morgan

Ellinbank seniors have become Minor Premiers of the EDFL’s 2021 season after finals were called off because of the continued lockdowns.

Trafalgar, who are in the number two spot, will not play a grand final and will not get a shot at the premiership.

Ellinbank will have their name etched into the honour-rolls with an asterisk next to “premiers” which has never happened in the history of the league. 

Trafalgar Coach Chris Kyriacou said he found out the news last week and sent a text to the rest of the team.

“Most of them would have woken up to a text message from me this morning and I’d imagine it’s quite a tough pill to swallow for all of us involved.

“Especially from the senior’s perspective, we were told we had every chance to win a premiership and we felt we were the favourites,” Kyriacou said. 

Trafalgar lost only two games for the year by a combined 11 points against Buln Buln and Ellinbank.

Each team played once over 11 rounds, which made it possible to award the minor premier title.

Ellinbank remain undefeated for the entire season, winning 10 games. 

“We left no stone unturned but we didn’t get the big ticket item that we wanted,” Ellinbank Coach Chris Wragg said.

Wragg said the team hasn’t had the chance to show their full potential.

“We had a pretty good bond, but this year was something special, we just enjoyed playing footy.

“And to cut the season short and get told you’re not having finals it’s definitely devastating,” Wragg said.

The coach said there will be major celebrations when restrictions ease, with reserve footballers, A, B, and C grade netballers all finishing on top.

EDFL operations manager Ken Moore said it was an extremely difficult decision to make, and the league has been working intensively to put up a game plan.

“We can’t keep going with these indefinite extensions, at some point we’ve got to give everyone closure,” Moore said.

The league still aims to have juniors play a finals series, and are working through multiple plans so two weeks of finals can be played.

If restrictions ease after September 18, juniors could play the first round of finals on the AFL Grand Final weekend, following a junior Grand Final on October 2.

A minimum seven-day training period would be required following AFL Victoria’s COVID framework guidelines, which aim to prevent injury.

Read the full story in today's paper.