TYNTYNDER v WOORINEN
ALL eyes will be firmly fixed on one man when Woorinen takes on Tyntynder at Alan Garden Reserve in Saturday’s Central Murray match of the round.
Former AFL footballer Patrick Veszpremi will make his debut for the Tigers in a major coup for the reigning premiers.
The Tigers will also benefit from the return of dual premiership wingman Taylor Cameron and Lachie Wright, who comes back from Pioneers duties to strengthen the visitors’ back six.
It’s not all good news for Woorinen, however, with the Tigers set to lose Clayton McCartney, Ben Booth, Nyawi Moore and Jordy McInnes to either injury or unavailability.
Tyntynder will also be forced into making a change to their line-up, with coach Josh Stone having sustained a hamstring strain in last Saturday’s win over NNW United, ruling him out of the must-win encounter.
While the loss of Stone will hurt the Dogs, particularly through the midfield, the Tyntynder brains trust will hope the return of gun full-forward Jason Eagle from a hamstring strain will at least provide their team with a more potent forward line.
The Bulldogs’ big strength this season has been their outside speed, and it will be this element of their game where they will hope to expose the Tigers as well.
Woorinen, on the other hand, are extremely adept at winning the contested ball and then transitioning forward by foot, which will no doubt add up to an exciting tug of war.
One area of their game the Tigers will focus on though will be up forward and their ability to hit the score board – especially in the absence of McCartney, McInnes and Tom Eltringham. Veszpremi will potentially help in this department – as will Xavia Elford and Lachie Gardner – and if the Woorinen midfield can give them plenty of supply, then the visitors should get the job done.
Tip – Woorinen to win by 7 points.
TOOLEYBUC-MANANGATANG v KOONDROOK-BARHAM
WITH both teams finding themselves with a solitary victory so far in 2022, the encounter between Tooleybuc-Manangatang and Koondrook-Barham shapes as the perfect opportunity to evaluate exactly where both clubs are in their redevelopment.
The Saints will come into the match at Tooleybuc fresh having enjoyed last week’s bye, which came hot on the heels of their 24-point win over Balranald. Koondrook-Barham also faced off against the Roos in their last match, which resulted in a 36-point loss.
Saturday will be a whole new ball game whoever, with Tooleybuc-Manangatang likely to lose the services of Jakob Williams, William Haley and Billy Walker, who all took the field in their win a fortnight ago.
The Raiders on the other hand will be understandably disappointed with their performance last Saturday and will be keen to atone. Kye Attwell and Jacob Barrington provided good targets up forward, but their midfield’s poor execution at times let them down.
Pat Goble was impressive last week, as were Jack Shannon and Blake Watts, but the River Raiders simply need more drive out of their midfield group – particularly experienced big-bodied on-ballers Colin McVeigh and Jordan Iudica.
John Wardle will most likely get the job on Attwell, which will leave Mitch Ferrie to stand Barrington in the goal square. But it’s the run and creativity of reigning Koondrook-Barham best-and-fairest Jake Dick-O’Flaherty that will likely cause the Saints the biggest headaches around goal. Dick-O’Flaherty is the Raiders’ best player by a mile and is the one Dean Helmers will need to stop if his team are to claim their second win of the season.
While quelling the influence of the Raiders’ No.9 will go a long way to securing the win, the Saints will also need to get their hands on the ball first, which will bring the dangerous Shylo Smith and Brayden Pitcher into the contest.
Tip – Tooleybuc-Manangatang to win by 10 points.
LAKE BOGA v KERANG
HAVING failed their first real test of 2022 at Tigerland last Saturday, Lake Boga will return home and have a second attempt at claiming a big scalp when they host the unbeaten Kerang.
The Magpies were found wanting against the Tigers early, with an eight-goals-to-three first half effectively sealing their fate before half-time. If the Boga brains trust thought last Saturday was tough, however, they may well be in for a bigger shock facing the Blues, one of the form teams of the competition so far.
Josh Filo missed last weekend and will be a possible inclusion – however there is an injury cloud over Rhys Healey, Noah Sherlock and co-coach Angus Monfries after all suffered injuries that left them unable to play out the game.
Monfries, in particular, is vital to the Lake Boga structure, with the small forward their main avenue to goal – especially in the absence of Jayden Lonergan.
If the Magpies are to have any chance of causing an upset, they will need to find a way to give Monfries space inside 50 and isolate him one-on-one against his direct opponent.
That will be a lot easier said than done, as the Kerang back six are the masters of team defence. Even with Josh Hann out with a hamstring strain, the Blues can rely on Michael Dalrymple, Lachie Ross, Brandon Hayes, Jesse Clark and Josh Nitschke to terrorise the Magpie forward line – and make it nearly impossible for them to score.
While the ruck battle between Jacob Simpson and Troy Davis promises to be entertaining, so too will the battle of the starting midfields. Everyone knows how good the Blues’ engine room is, with Marty Kelly, Ryan Gillingham and Sam Heavyside perhaps the best starting three midfielders in the competition.
While the Filo brothers may be able to compete with Kerang’s first wave of on-ballers, it’s their depth that sets the Blues apart and will likely see them claim victory.
Tip – Kerang to win by 30 points.
BALRANALD v SWAN HILL
BALRANALD will return to Greenham Park full of confidence following their 36-point win over the Raiders last weekend – and well aware of the opportunity presented to them against the winless Swan Hill.
While the Roos have the opportunity to get their season back on track, the Swans will also fancy their chances of a claiming their first win of the season, especially with Tyler Makepeace, Leighton Dullard and Tom Pontell close to resuming after injury.
While those three will be big inclusions for the visitors, the potential absence of Mitch Makepeace will hurt, particularly in Swan Hill’s forward structure. One of the Swans’ weaknesses has been their ability to hit the scoreboard throughout the early rounds, with Makepeace their equal leading scorer with six majors for the season.
This won’t be an issue for Balranald, with the return of Ben Fuller seemingly solving the Roos’ goalkicking woes last weekend. Fuller kicked a bag of eight against the Raiders, dominated the air deep in attack and will no doubt again take some stopping on the smaller Greenham Park oval.
The other player Swan Hill will have to nullify is Jydon Neagle, with the Roos’ co-coach the one who more often than not would start his team’s chain of attack off half-back.
Swan Hill have their share of high-class players too, such as the ageless Matt Wade and Xavier Moloney. But it would seem this game could almost come down to the big men and which team is able to dominate in the air. If Toby Thoolen and Xavier Mertz can get dangerous around the ground, then Swan Hill could be hard to stop. Conversely, if Jordan Wilkins is able to get his hands on the ball around the stoppages and continuously feed it to the likes of Colin Andrew and Drew Lloyd, then the Roos should make it two wins on the hop.
Tip – Balranald to win by 5 points.
COHUNA KANGAS v NNW UNITED
THIS match will pit the undefeated Cohuna Kangas up against the winless Nyah-Nyah West United.
To say the Kangas will go in as favourites may well be the understatement of the season. As if NNW United’s task wasn’t already hard enough, they will have to do battle without coach Corey Daniels, who re-injured his hamstring in last Saturday’s 54-point loss to Tyntynder.
While Daniels won’t take his place, the Demons will welcome back Alex Erlandson and Frank Violi – with Cal Dobbin also considered a 50-50 prospect of returning from his own hamstring injury.
Cohuna will also have a number of inclusions, with Ben Archard likely to return from Essendon VFL duties, along with Sam Conforti, who will play his first game for his new club. To make matters worse, Joel Helman is in the running to return and play his first game since the Kangas’ win over the Saints.
The return of Erlandson and Dobbin couldn’t come at a better time, with both likely to have the task of manning either Dylan Johnstone or the in-form Rhys Free, with 21 goals from his past three matches. Erlandson is the best match-up for Free with his size and speed.
Tip – Cohuna to win by 70 points.
