Australian Football

Merrivale

During the 1930s Merrivale competed in the Warrnambool Junior Football Association without enjoying premiership success. The closest the club came was a losing grand final clash with West End in 1933.

In 1946 a new competition, the Warrnambool and District Football League, was formed, and Merrivale was one of five founder members. The side reached its first grand final in 1950, but lost to West End, a result that was repeated in each of the next two seasons and again in 1954. Merrivale’s inaugural premiership finally arrived in 1958 thanks to a 13.15 (93) to 13.13 (91) grand final defeat of Russells Creek.

The Tigers next emerged as a force a decade later. Between 1968 and 1974 they qualified for four grand finals, only to lose on each occasion. They had to wait until the end of the 1970s to record their second WDFL grand final triumph which was achieved at the expense of West End Allansford by a 9 point margin.

The 1990s saw the commencement of without doubt the Tigers’ greatest era to date. Since 1991 the seniors have contested a total of nine grand finals, and emerged triumphant from those of 1991 against Old Collegians, 1996 and 2003 at the expense of Russells Creek, 2006 against Dennington, and 2014 versus Panmure. In 2015 the Tigers lost the grand final to Dennington by 8 points. By comparison, their 2016 season was somewhat disappointing as although they qualified for the finals they bowed out of the flag race at the first hurdle, a result that was repeated in 2017. This was followed by a somewhat lack lustre 2018 campaign which yielded 8 wins from 16 matches and saw the Tigers drop to sixth place on the eleven team premiership ladder.