ALL eyes will be on the battle between Lake Boga and the Mallee Eagles on Saturday, with both teams needing to win to solidify their position in this year’s finals series.
Set to go all out in pursuit of victory, the Magpies need to win their final match to secure top spot and a direct passage to the semi-finals, while the Eagles will need the four points to keep Balranald at bay and claim the all-important third position on the ladder.
Except for Balranald in round 2, the Eagles have been the closest to defeating the all-conquering Lake Boga this season, going within six goals of toppling the Magpies in round 7.
The ladder leaders were required to produce their best with a 14-8 final quarter, after the Eagles drew level at three-quarter-time.
It highlighted how difficult the Magpies are to beat this season, but also that despite their dominance, the Eagles are not far behind.
Although that performance will be sure to give the Mallee Eagles confidence that their best can compete against the ladder leaders, co-coach Alicia Harvey also knew it would count for little on Saturday.
“From (Lake Boga’s) perspective, they will be determined to win the minor premiership, they’ve been the benchmark this season and they are always hard to beat,” Harvey said.
“It was a tough match against them last time we played, but our focus is on Saturday now.
“It’s make or break for us, even though we’re guaranteed of playing finals.
“Our girls have put in the work, and we knew right from the start of the year that if we worked hard, we’d be a force to be reckoned with and we’ve definitely proved that.
“Hopefully a win should cement us in the top three, which is obviously what we’re aiming for.”
The Eagles will be without Kasey Torr, who looks set to miss the remainder of the season with a knee injury in a major blow the blue and gold army.
Lake Boga, on the other hand, will be at full strength, with Sophie Peacock and Lily Brennan both returning to the side after missing last Saturday’s 23-goal win over Tooleybuc-Manangatang.
“It will be a good test for us and one that we’ve been looking forward to,” Lake Boga coach Anne-Marie Stewart told The Guardian this week.
“We’ve been keeping it together in recent weeks but for a little while there we were a bit slower against the weaker teams, but we’re starting to get our game going again.
“ (Mallee Eagles) play in a fairly similar way to us in that they look for opportunities and create opportunities on defence and they hunt the ball.
“Hopefully we’ll be smart enough to shut them down, but on the flip side we have some good hunters, and they will have to shut ours down too.
“I think both teams have the best hunters in the competition, their defenders like to hunt the ball and ours like to hunt, so it will be a bit of a battle and it will be interesting to watch how both attacking ends adapt.”
Both teams possess strong defences, with Lake Boga led by the Peacock sisters and Jemma Meehan and the Eagles by Nevaeh Roberts and Laura Sheahan.
For Harvey, much of her team’s focus will centre on the Magpies’ attacking third and how to best nullify Lake Boga’s biggest weapons.
“You can’t go past Sarah (Hepburn) and Katie (Carmichael), they’re very strong and dominant goalies and they’re one of the big reasons why they are on top of the ladder,” Harvey said.
“They’ve scored the most goals of any teams, so shutting down their attacking end will be one of the keys.
“Stopping their ball movement before it gets to the ring, that’s going to be on our midcourters to work hard and try to force those errors and turnovers before it gets to their goal ring, which is where they do the most damage.
“We really need to turn up the heat defensively on Saturday all across the court, with our midcourters and defence needing to play big games.”
Tip – Lake Boga to win by three goals.
