The pinnacle of pre-Christmas racing, the prestigious Head of the Yarra is an 8km course, with crews travelling from interstate and even overseas to compete. Complete with many twists and turns, including the infamous big bend, which features an almost 90-degree corner, a good cox is essential for success in this event. The winding course will provide a significant advantage to the Melbourne natives, Mercantile, this weekend. The U21 eights will feature a mix of athletes, some with one season of racing for their respective clubs under their belt already, while others, including some crew members, are fresh out of year 12 exams and may be making their debut for their club. There are four entries in this event, Mercantile fielding two crews in this event, one crew from Sydney Rowing Club and travelling all the way across the Tasman, the crew from Auckland Rowing Club. From these entries, two leading contenders in the Sydney Rowing Club and Mercantile’s first crew emerge.
Mercantile 1
The Mercantile boat will have confidence heading into this weekend on the back of a successful weekend at Melbourne Head, where they won the U21 eight by 16 seconds. It should be noted that this crew is not identical to the crew that raced at Melbourne Head last weekend. There have been two swaps so that McNeil and Pugh can compete in the U19 Eight, and Ford and Torney have joined the bow pair of the U21 boat. Two members of this crew, Ford and Gillion, both competed for Mercantile as part of their 2025 Henley Royal Regatta Royal Regatta Prince Phillip Challenge Cup crew. This international race experience will be a valuable asset to this young crew. Both Price and Adem competed as part of Mercantile’s top U21 eight last season, and the extra season of training and experience is sure to be an advantage over Sydney’s boat, which features freshly graduated athletes. The home ground advantage and the benefit of already having a successful race as a crew under their belt may help the girls from Mercantile secure the win over Sydney Rowing Club this Saturday.
Sydney Rowing Club
This Sydney Rowing Club crew consists of all first-year U21 athletes, having only recently completed their HSC exams, but are all accomplished schoolgirl rowers, with two members having competed for Australia at the junior World Rowing Championships this year. Three athletes from Poulos, Yardley, and Parkes (cox) all competed in the St Catherine’s (NSW) Schoolgirl Eight National Championship-winning crew. Yardley also competed as part of St Catherine’s 2024 Prince Phillip Challenge Trophy Henley Royal Regatta Campaign. In the bow pair, Naito and Yabsley were both selected onto the Australian U19 World Championship team this year. Naito was a member of the Australian junior women’s eight, and after winning the 2025 schoolgirl single scull at nationals, Yabsley was selected into the Australian U19 double. Wark, Tompson and Bennet will also add valuable strength to this crew, having competed in the Queenwood first eight, one of the top NSW school rowing programs. This boat is full of talented young athletes and, assuming they’ve all kept fit over the exam period, are likely to be the quickest on the water this Saturday.
Auckland Rowing Club
While less is known about how our neighbours from across the ditch will rank alongside the Australian crews, this boat appears to have less recent racing experience than its competitors, with multiple athletes having not raced since competing for their schools in 2024. Lorch-Church, Setoga and Dryden all competed for the Auckland Rowing Club last season, making the A-final in multiple club events at the New Zealand Rowing Championships. Guiding this crew down the course, the Auckland stern pair consists of Eadie and Worall, both successful schoolgirl scullers. Eadie, having finished fourth in the U17 single sculls at New Zealand’s National School Championships, the Maadi Cup, this year, and Worall, having won the B-final in the U18 single scull at last year’s Maadi Cup. I believe it is unlikely this crew of club competitors will overpower the more experienced crews from Mercantile or Sydney Rowing Club.
Prediction
The outcome of this race is difficult to predict, given the early stage of the season and the fact that the girls from Auckland Rowing Club are not regular competitors in Australia. That being said, I believe this race will ultimately be a challenge between the crews from Sydney Rowing Club and Mercantile. We saw from last weekend that the Mercantile crew has boat speed and will be assisted by their home ground advantage; however, it is hard to look past the sheer amount of talent at the schoolgirl and U19 levels within the Sydney Rowing Club crew. However, this is a long and challenging race, and the outcome will likely depend on how fit each crew’s school-leaver athletes have kept over the exam period.
Prediction:
1. Sydney Rowing Club
2. Mercantile 1
3. Auckland
4. Mercantile 2
