DESPITE sitting on top of the ladder with a seven win, one loss start to the season, Nyah-Nyah West United will be out to make a statement when they meet Balranald at Greenham Park this Saturday afternoon, according to co-coach Jason Murphy.
The Demons have been the form team of the competition across the opening nine rounds, but after coming up 11 points short against Kerang in round 8, the question marks surrounding NNW United’s capacity to beat the best remain.
It’s a question that Murphy and his team hope to answer by beating a Roos outfit many considered to be premiership favourites at the start of the season.
“It’s another chance for us to make a statement, and that’s the way we’re sort of approaching it,” Murphy told The Guardian this week.
“Against Kerang we went in with that mindset too. The feeling around town, or at least what we’re hearing, is that people don’t think we’re quite up to the level of Balranald or Kerang. So it will be an opportunity for us to change a few peoples minds this Saturday.
“We’re in the game of proving people wrong and that’s the way want to approach it, you don’t get handed reputations, you have to earn them.
“We want to get to their level and be respected by everyone else and you can only do that by winning these games.”
Although this Saturday shapes as a massive opportunity for the Demons, the same can be said for last year’s grand finalists Balranald, who have been well below their best over the past five rounds, with only two wins.
The fact that both losses came against Woorinen and the Mallee Eagles at Greenham Park, a venue where they lost just one match last season, is even more concerning for co-coach Jydon Neagle, who is hoping to see some significant improvement.
“We’ve lost the last two at home, which has been our fortress of late, but we’re not bringing our A game at the moment and it’s costing us,” Neagle said.
“We know they (NNW United) are sitting on top of the ladder, so we’ll have to be ready for the challenge and it’s a chance for us to take it up to the best and be the hunter for once.
“We need to play four quarters, our lulls are killing us at the moment, we know we can’t play perfect footy for 120 minutes but we need to be limiting the oppositions influence when they’re on top and work harder to wrestle the momentum back our way.”
Helping Balranald’s cause will be the return of Jackson Ferguson and Glen Gillbee to the side that last Saturday accounted for Swan Hill by 41 points, with Ferguson a potential option to contain NNW United’s leading goal kicker Brandyn Grenfell, who has a league high 37 goals this season.
The Demons will also be forced into changes to their team, with Corey Daniels unavailable for the next four to six weeks, while attacking half-back Jaydyn Stirling will need to pass a fitness test on his troublesome groin to take his place in the side.
Although both teams possess dangerous forward lines, with Drew Lloyd, Colin Andrews and Jydon Neagle every bit as potent as NNW United’s combination of Grenfell, Nick O’Neill, Charlie Boulton and Alex Erlandson, it’s in the midfield where the match will most likely be decided.
The only difference will be in the contrasting styles, with NNW United’s run and gun approach set to clash with Balranald’s heavily contested midfield brand, according to Murphy.
“They (Balranald) are always good in the contest and have some good bigger bodies around the footy,” Murphy said.
“We’ll have to step it up around the contest, which we lacked a little bit in the second half against Lake Boga last week. I think our boys’ egos took a bit of a hit last weekend in that space, but we’ve got a really good opportunity to crack in again tomorrow against some really good midfielders and prove ourselves.
“We think when we’re playing our best football and we have our running and forward handball game going that we can beat anyone.
“Obviously they have stars all over the ground, but we’d like to think we have them as well. But we won’t be focusing on one person, we’ll be trying to get our game going and trying to counter whatever they throw at us as a team.”
Although Balranald are a two to three goal better team at home, they just don’t seem to be playing with the same vigour and intent as this time last season – and until they show that they have their mojo back, it’s hard to go past the in-form Demons.
Tip – NNW United to win by three points.
KEY MATCH-UP
Drew Lloyd v Joel Walsh
Expect fireworks if these two contested marked bulls line up opposed to each other across Balranald’s half forward line.
Lloyd has been in exceptional form this season and has 10 goals from his past two matches, while Walsh is one of the league’s most damaging kicks and sets up much of the Demons attacking forays from his ability to intercept and rebound from defence.
Both are the barometers for their clubs and will be equally important to the outcome of Saturday’s match.
THE BURNING QUESTION
How does Balranald’s backline counter Brandyn Grenfell?
For years Greenham Park has been owned by a tall, strong, key position forward – he’s just always been wearing blue and white stripes not the red and blue.
While Ben Fuller is unlikely to pull on the boots this year, Brandyn Grenfell has taken over the mantle of dominant full forward and will once again hold the key to the Demons success on the big stage on Saturday.
Grenfell is not only the leading goal kicker in the competition, but also a model of consistency, having kicked a goal in every match this season and three goals or more in every match bar one for the Demons so far.
Jackson Ferguson seems to be the most logical match up, with the key position swingman capable of playing at either end of the ground, but if the Roos decide to play him forward instead, then it will be very interesting to see who goes to Grenfell, as Jack Jones, Toby Lay and even Jaxon Neagle would seem to be undersized.
