LAVINGTON looks set to be one of the big winners of the 2016 Ovens and Murray league draw.
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The 2015 grand finalists will have four stand-alone games next year, meaning they will be the only Border-based clubs playing at home in rounds 1, 3, 11 and 13.
The Panthers will kick off the season with a blockbuster grand final re-match against Albury under lights on Good Friday, the first time the two have clashed on that day since 2013.
The match at Lavington Sportsground on March 25 will start at 6.10pm.
Lavington will play three night games in total, with another home game in round three against the Raiders and a trip to Wangaratta Magpies in round four.
“You need to play them early, there’s not much benefit later in the year because it’s way too cold,” Lavington president Peter Barwick said.
“We’ve done pretty well, we are very happy with the draw.”
Overall, all eight clubs who could be contacted were satisfied with the draw.
The season starts at Easter with two Good Friday games for the first time in the league’s history.
After the success of this year’s fixture, the Magpies will again host the Raiders under lights in round one at the Norm Minns Oval.
Corowa-Rutherglen will get a stand-alone game on Easter Saturday at home against North Albury, while Myrtleford and Yarrawonga will get the lucrative Easter Sunday home games.
The Alpine Saints played the Tigers on Easter Sunday this year, while the Pigeons hosted the Wangaratta Rovers at Mulwala.
Next year’s Anzac Day weekend shapes as a big round of footy, with five games over three days.
Myrtleford hosts Lavington on the Saturday, while there’s two Sunday games, with Corowa-Rutherglen hosting Yarrawonga, and the Rovers hosting the Magpies in the Wangaratta derby.
There’s also two games on the Monday – Anzac Day – North Albury is at home against Albury and the Bulldogs hosts the Raiders in the Wodonga derby.
The interleague bye will be after round eight on the weekend of May 21, while there’s a bye for the Country v Metro game on July 9.
There’s split rounds in round 11 (Queens’s Birthday) and round 16, with the finals starting on August 27.
Going against tradition, the grand final will be held on Sunday, September 18, two weeks before the AFL grand final.
“After the AFL’s decision to extend their season by a week, it just wasn’t feasible to follow our normal timeframe with Easter falling so early in 2016,” O and M boss Aaron McGlynn said.
