GNFL round one: It’s all in the past! No grudges over fiery prelim as Railways & Chapman Valley start season

The stage is set for round one’s standalone clash between Railways and Chapman Valley this weekend, as the Geraldton Community Bank GNFL season kicks off this Saturday afternoon at the Recreation Ground. The two sides come into the season having both featured in last year’s finals series, meeting in a fiery preliminary final where Railways came out on top and booked their ticket to the big dance. Railways went on to lose the grand final to Brigades by eight points. Last year’s preliminary final saw the two sides come together in a brutal, physical encounter but Chapman Valley player-coach and Railways coach John Reynolds declared it’s all in the past. “We certainly don’t take anything to heart,” he said. Schofield added: “I’m personally friends with a lot of the Railways boys, so I don’t hold a grudge to them at all. “At the end of the day, it’s just a game of footy.” Eager to make amends for how their seasons ended — with Railways losing the grand final and Chapman Valley going out in straight sets, both sides are looking to start their season on the right note. The two sides are finalising their starting squads for the weekend, but have revealed selection has been tough with new faces on the park and young players keen to establish their spots. Schofield was quietly confident heading into the weekend. “We lost a few players from last year, but that just gives great opportunity for new guys coming in,” he said. “We’re going to look a bit different, different on the weekend. We’re probably going to have five or six debutants. There’s some new recruits and kids playing. “We’ve trained hard during the pre-season, done all the work. So just eager to get out there and see how well we go.” Reynolds said they were keen to run out for the first time off the back of a huge pre-season. “The vibe around the club has been fantastic to start off the year. All teams have really good numbers, which makes selection hard,” he said. “We’re feeling confident going into the game, it’s always a hard thing, not knowing what the opposition have done in the off-season as well, so we’ll take that into account. “I’m feeling really positive and I think the guys are eager to get out there and put all that hard work through pre-season, out on the field.” For Railways, Reynolds believes his side set themselves up for a strong start to the season, with players keen to put on a show. “It is definitely a really important game. We’ll be taking it as that, and the guys understand that as well,” he said. “They’re really eager. So we’re going to find that happy medium of not getting overly excited, but also putting on a really good show. “You’ll see the hard work that we’ve put on throughout the whole club. It’d be great to see some success across the board and reward for effort for all the teams.” Chapman Valley will also have a similar mindset, wanting to take winning momentum as they begin their season. Schofield was keen to see how the side comes together with players in different roles. “The majority of us have played a lot of footy together, so we know how we want to play and each other’s roles. “It’s just about implementing that on the biggest stage . . . it’s going to be a big crowd, but we’ve played in front of plenty of big crowds over the last couple of years, but we’re looking forward to it.” The league game starts at 2.30pm. Colts play at 9.30am, reserves at 11.30am and women at 1pm.