Sport
7 August, 2026
Princes Park returns as host for the upcoming 2026 MCDFNL finals series
After being begrudgingly omitted from last season’s schedule, the MCDFNL has confirmed its upcoming 2026 finals series will return to its long-serving home at Princes Park.
A series of facility issues at the historic Maryborough venue forced the league to significantly shift from its traditional finals setting last year, resulting in Avoca Recreational Reserve and CHS Broadbent Oval hosting the first week of finals and Carisbrook Recreation Reserve staging the Grand Final.
While Carisbrook will host qualifying finals on Saturday, August 22 and elimination finals on Sunday, August 23, the majority of the finals will be held at Princes Park, including Grand Final day on Saturday, September 12.
MCDFNL competition coordinator Ben Connell said the league has been working in collaboration with the Central Goldfields Shire Council to ensure the local football and netball extravaganza comes back to Maryborough.
“For the MCDFNL and for our clubs, it’s a very exciting time. Princes Park has a strong history with our league and it’s a venue that provides a really great setting for finals, so we’re excited to be back,” he said.
“The board have been working with council since October last year with the plan of returning to Princes Park by getting issues that were there last year sorted, which council worked very hard to do.”
The main issue with Princes Park last year was the safety of their netball courts. To ensure the surface met with Netball Victoria’s playing standards, council has repaired the cracking asphalt, updated line marking and given the court a high-pressure clean.
With necessary upgrades in place for a Princes Park return, Connell said ensuring week one finals venues were in close proximity to each other was a key priority for the league.
“Maryborough’s Princes Park is a great venue. It gives us more access to get more people in and also it’s central to everything,” he said.
“There was no real talk about being out at Natte or Avoca, even though they have fantastic facilities and did a fantastic job last year hosting finals.
“We do use an extra ground in week one due to the amount of games that need to be played. There was some discussion around whether that gets shifted around, but they’ve decided that Carisbrook was a fantastic venue last year, held the Grand Final and created a great atmosphere.”
As he prepares for his first finals series as league coordinator, Connell said he’s eager to experience the exhilaration of an MCDFNL finals series.
“It’s the culmination of a great season. There’s been a lot of really close games. To me at the moment anybody in the top eight of senior football can win it on their day,” he said.
“Seeing the amount of people at Princes Park will probably be a bit of a shock for me coming from a basketball background. To be involved in a finals series where the ground will be packed is something I’m really excited and looking forward to.”