04/09/2026
Such an amazing write up by the Bussell Highway Sports Desk with some great history about the OCFA and the Abalones in there as well! Thankyou so much for taking the time! 💛🤎
🏉 ONSHORE CUP GRAND FINAL PREVIEW
AUGUSTA ABALONES v BUSSELTON BOMBERS
Saturday, September 5 — 2.00pm
Augusta Town Oval
Friday is a busy day at the Sports Desk.
There are previews everywhere, which means Thursday night tends to be a long one — and getting information about the Onshore Cup online is a bit like trying to pry a greenlip off a rock with your fingernails.
We've spent a fair chunk of this week digging through Facebook posts, old articles and various dusty corners of the internet, and we're still not entirely convinced anyone involved in this competition actually wants outsiders knowing what goes on.
Which, to be fair, we quite like.
But we've found enough, and we've picked a bloody good week to start paying attention.
Augusta Abalones. Busselton Bombers. First against second. Grand Final.
And Busselton are trying to win their FIFTH premiership in a row. Yep. Five.
The Bombers have basically had the Onshore Cup locked in the cupboard since 2022, winning four straight flags and turning themselves into the competition's modern-day powerhouse.
Augusta, however, look like they might have finally found the key.
The Abalones have beaten Busselton twice this season, including a four-point thriller at Bovell Oval and then, more importantly, a six-point finals win which sent Augusta straight through to the Grand Final and earned them hosting rights.
So now the four-time reigning premiers have to travel down to Augusta Town Oval and win number five on the Abalones' home patch, which makes this considerably more interesting.
Augusta finished on top, have home-ground advantage, had the week off — not a rare occurrence in the OC — but perhaps most importantly, already know they can beat Busselton when it matters.
Busselton bring something slightly different: four consecutive premierships, Grand Final experience everywhere and presumably absolutely no interest in handing the cup over just because everyone else thinks it's someone else's turn.
🏄 A COMPETITION WITH A DIFFERENCE
For those who don't know much about the Onshore Cup — which included us until we started digging — it's got one of the better origin stories in local sport.
The competition started back in 1982 and grew out of the South West surfing community, with football originally played when conditions weren't much good for surfing.
No waves? Righto, grab a Sherrin.
Forty-four years later, they're playing a Grand Final in Augusta.
Augusta themselves first joined the competition in 1984 and have plenty of history in the Onshore Cup, but it hasn't been one continuous run. The Abalones folded in 2005 when player numbers dried up and spent more than 15 years out of the competition before making their return in 2021.
So there's another decent storyline for Saturday — five years after getting the Abalones back on the paddock, Augusta are hosting a Grand Final against a Busselton side chasing its fifth straight flag.
🌟 THE BEST OF 2026
There's some serious talent running around the Onshore Cup too.
Mitchell Paine and Jayson Altham were announced as joint winners of the 2026 Onshore Cup Fairest & Best, sharing the competition's top individual honour after the votes couldn't separate them. Paine takes the field for the Abs this week and shapes as a potential match-winner, with premiership experience already under his belt with the AMR Hawks.
📊 THE FORM LINE
The most interesting number might simply be:
Augusta 2
Busselton 0
That's their head-to-head record this year.
But the margins? Four points. Six points.
So while Augusta have the edge, there has been absolutely nothing between them.
One bounce, one late goal, one bloke trying something ridiculous from the boundary after being dared by a rowdy mate in the crowd...
Could decide the premiership.
🔮 SPORTS DESK TIP
AUGUSTA BY 4 POINTS.
We're siding with the home team, mainly because they've beaten Busselton twice already, they've had the week off and they're playing on their own deck.
But tipping against a side chasing five straight flags feels exactly like the sort of thing that could make us look very stupid by 4.30pm Saturday.
Which is fairly standard Sports Desk operating procedure.
Onshore Cup people — this is where we need you.
Who are the players to watch? Who wins it? And what have we missed?
We're very happy to be educated before we start pretending we've followed the competition religiously since 1982.
