TOP spot and premiership favouritism will be the prizes on offer when the last remaining undefeated A Grade teams Lake Boga and Swan Hill do battle Saturday afternoon.
While the Magpies have been the benchmark team for the past season and a half, it’s Swan Hill who have bragging rights courtesy of their six-goal win in last year’s grand final.
It’s a result that Lake Boga will be keen to atone for, with the bulk of the Magpies team from that fateful day still wearing black and white.
The team that will have a vastly different look to them is Swan Hill, with Zoe Morris and Karli McIntyre the only Swans that still remain from their grand final starting line-up.
For Lake Boga coach Anne-Marie Stewart, the new-look Swans may be an unknown quantity, but by the same token will be no less of a challenge.
“It will be a good test for everyone to see where we’re at, they (Swan Hill) have a few new girls in their line up and they seem to have started the season pretty well,” Stewart told The Guardian this week.
“They’re a very good team and have been for a long time, but it’s just another game for us and we will be treating it as such.
“I haven’t seen Casey (Frame) and Zoe (Morris) play together before and their defenders are new too, so there is still a bit of an unknown about their line up and as such you don’t know how certain players will match up until you get out on the court, so we’ll just stick to doing what we do best.
“We’ll just focus on us and playing our team in their best positions, we won’t be too concerned with match ups, we’ll be more focused on how we want to play.”
Both Lake Boga and Swan Hill will go in with unchanged line-ups after tough wins against the Mallee Eagles and Kerang respectively last Saturday.
While both clubs were tested last week, Saturday’s game is expected to see both teams take their games to another level entirely, with Swan Hill co-coach Madeleine Nalder well aware of how difficult it will be to take home the four points.
“We’re essentially a new team with new expectations and I don’t think any of us knew what to expect from this season at the start, but we’re really pleased with how we’ve started nonetheless,” Nalder said.
“We’ve had some solid games and some good wins in the first few weeks, but we’re not going into tomorrow’s game under any illusions as to how hard it will be, Lake Boga have been the benchmark over the past couple of years, but at the same time it’s an exciting opportunity for us to see where we’re at.”
“They (Lake Boga) have great scoring power with Katie (Carmichael) and Sarah (Hepburn) and we’ll have to find a way to limit their influence.
“We’re going to give away a fair bit of height, but our girls will just have to work hard and turnover what we can and when we do, we’ll need to make it count at the other end and reward our defenders’ efforts.
“When you’re playing on tall goalers and quality goalers like they are, the balls that you can intercept are sometimes few and far between, so we need to make sure we reward our defenders when we get the chance.”
With Hepburn and Carmichael coming into the match as the Central Murray’s dominant goalie combination and with Lake Boga’s midcourt, led by Lily Brennan and Taigan O’Shannassy, also in good form, the Magpies should exact revenge for their grand final heartbreak in yet another close encounter between the two rivals.
Tip – Lake Boga to win by two goals.
