AN understrength Woorinen are excited about the challenge that awaits them this weekend, according to senior coach Marcus Demaria.
The Tigers will on Saturday tackle perhaps the biggest challenge in Central Murray football at present – beating Balranald at Greenham Park.
Adding to the degree of difficulty will be the absence of four key players, Clayton McCartney (hamstring), Brock McLean, Tom Langford and Adam Saunders all set to miss.
While Ben Booth is a chance to return, Woorinen will need to be at their best if they are to cause an upset.
Demaria told The Guardian he was fully aware of the examination that awaits his players.
“There’s no bigger challenge than playing Balranald up there, but at the same time there’s a sense of excitement among our group about Saturday,” he said.
“We’ve got four key players going out of the team and the weekend has a bit of an underdog feel about it for us.
“It’s a really good challenge that we’re all excited about and we’re excited for the contest really, as well as giving some more opportunities to a few of our kids.
“A fair bit of time and effort’s gone into the younger players and we’ve been giving them their opportunities and we’re going to continue to challenge them with different roles.”
While Woorinen were quick to snap up the underdog tag, in any other week it could easily be applied to their opponents, who narrowly avoided defeat against winless Koondrook-Barham last Saturday in a come-from-behind three-point win.
Balranald will regain the services of both Jack and Tom Salau, along with Jarryd Stead and Glen Gillbee, who returns from Bendigo Pioneers duties, while Bill Parry will need to pass a fitness test before being given the green light.
Balranald co-coach Jydon Neagle was expecting his team to bounce back hard in the rematch of last year’s qualifying final.
“We had a lucky escape (against Koondrook-Barham), they outplayed us for three quarters and although we fought back well, if we play like that against Woorinen, we won’t get the same result,” Neagle said.
“We’ve addressed it and we know exactly where we went wrong, but now we get the opportunity to turn that around and come out all guns blazing.
“I think it will be similar to the last couple of times we’ve played them (Woorinen), I think the team that defends that little bit better and has their defensive game at its peak, probably wins the game.
“I think we both have similar attacking styles, similar firepower going forward and pretty solid back lines, and I think the team that has the stronger defensive structure probably wins the game.”
The midfield looms as a key battleground, with Matthew Neagle, Kobe Lloyd and Harrison Soraggi all starting the season strongly for Balranald, and Jye Barry, Josh Domaille and Henry Thompson every bit as dangerous as their counterparts on their day.
Where the Roos could have an edge is in attack, where Colin Andrews, Drew Lloyd, Matthew and Jydon Neagle are all averaging more than two goals a game so far this season.
The challenge for Balranald’s onballers, however, could lie in getting through Woorinen’s half-back line, where Doug Beames, Taylor Cameron, Matthew Gardner and Mitch Uhlhorn are playing key roles in the back six.
Demaria’s focus will be all about his team’s ball movement and their ability to quickly turn defence into attack.
“If we can generate that fast, continuous ball movement and if we can get the ball into Lachie Gardner and (William) Collicoat one on one, that will be our best chance of kicking a winning score,” Demaria said.
“We don’t want to give them (Balranald) the opportunity to have drop off players and have those guys competing against two or three defenders.
“But if we can get our ball movement going and put their defenders under a bit of pressure, then we’ll put ourselves in a pretty good position.
“We also need to be wary of Jaxon Neagle, he reads the play very well with his intercepting and he generates a lot their offence from their defensive half.
“If they’ve got him and Jydon (Neagle) down there, it’s something we have to be wary of and we can’t go blazing away going forward.”
While two of the three games between the two teams were decided by less than three goals last year, expect the Roos to make a statement, especially on their home ground.
KEY MATCH-UP
Jaxon Neagle v Jason Iannucci
WHILE Iannucci may not end up being the Tiger who plays on Neagle, whoever does is going to be in for a tough afternoon at the office.
Much of Balranald’s attacking play is generated from their defence, with most of their best passages either starting with or going through the hands of the Roos intercept defender.
While Neagle is a smart footballer who reads the play well, so too is Iannucci, who has been a welcome addition to the Woorinen forward line since his return to senior football against Cohuna in round 3.
The Tigers need to negate Neagle’s influence if they are any chance of victory and to do that, they have to play one of their dangerous forwards on him and keep him honest.
THE BURNING QUESTION
Where does Jydon Neagle have the biggest impact on the game?
THERE is no more influential player in the Central Murray than the Balranald co-coach, with his sublime skills and hard-nosed attack on the ball making him a must-watch player every time the Roos cross the white line.
The challenge is, where is he best utilised to demonstrate his talent and, more importantly, exploit Woorinen’s weaknesses?
When Warren Lolicato began to take the game apart last week, it was Balranald’s coach who was deployed to put out the fire.
Ideally, Neagle splits his time 50-50 between midfield and forward, although against Woorinen, it could be argued that spending more time in attack is the answer, especially with the Tigers generating a lot of their attacking plays from their own defensive 50.
