2015 Landmark Country Championships Wednesday, June 17, 2015 - 4:32 PM

The 2015 Landmark Country Football Championship fixtures have been released and the 51st Carnival looks like being a hotly contested one with four divisions of five evenly matched sides.

With an additional League in Onshore Cup (from the state’s South West) nominating this year, the WACFL will host a round robin format including 20 teams and four divisions.

Download: 2015 Landmark Fixtures  

WACFL Executive member Joe Burton said he was excited about this year’s format. “The jury is still out amongst our leagues regarding round robin formats at country week – some of the up and coming leagues love it, whilst a number of the more traditional leagues prefer the traditional matches. 

“With 20 teams this year, four pools of five teams made sense and looking at the divisions, they should be fairly competitive which can only add to the excitement,” he said.

Round robin football almost caught country week’s most successful team, the South West Football League, out last year as they took their foot off the pedal against the Great Northern Football League in the final qualifying match.  With the GNFL side piling on the goals, third placed Avon nearly scraped through to the grand final on percentage with only a goal or two separating the top three sides.

Division 1 will undoubtedly be more open than previous years as the South West Football League clubs appear to have directed more focus at local players in 2015. The Peel Football League should field a strong side with Great Northern, Upper Great Southern and Avon hopeful of claiming a coveted Division 1 title.

Division 2 consists of teams all from traditional farming areas with Lower South West, Great Southern, Central Midlands, Mortlock and Eastern Districts all appearing evenly matched.

Burton, who is also chairman of the Great Southern FL, was hopeful the Great Southern could be more then competitive in Division 2.

“Like everyone we think our best team is pretty strong, from conversations I’ve had with other leagues, the players all appear to have shown a great interest in country week this year,” he said.

The championships will be held at WAFL venues from July 9-12. Fixtures can be viewed at www.wacfl.com.au or a fixture card can be collected at your local Landmark outlet.

Photo: Great Southern’s Jarrod Whittle gets a handball away against North Midlands in the 2014 Division 3 Landmark Grand Final.