WHILE most eyes will be on Dane Swan, the Swans in maroon and white will be determined to spoil the party against arch-rivals Tyntynder in the now-traditional standalone King’s Birthday weekend clash.
Despite being a season to forget for Swan Hill, having gone winless through their first seven matches, another hard-fought encounter between the crosstown rivals – who always go to another level when they clash – is expected on Saturday.
Tyntynder will have plenty to play for, given a win would elevate them into the top five approaching the halfway point of the season.
The Bulldogs will also be full of confidence and determined to replicate the form of last Saturday, when they defeated Tooleybuc-Manangatang by 58 points and kept them to just two goals for the match.
Tyntynder coach Jack O’Rourke has been impressed with a defence ranked second best in the Central Murray by points conceded.
“I think the boys have really bought into their roles and as such, our team defence is our big strength,” O’Rourke told The Guardian this week.
“We worked pretty hard on our team defence over the summer and it’s certainly showing in our performance on the field, we’ve kept some pretty good teams to some pretty low scores this season, now we just need to work on our ability to hurt them going back the other way.
“Our focus is always on winning the contested footy first, and then on our tackle pressure.
“When our tackling and pressure acts are up, that’s when we know we are on.
“Our game is built around winning the contested footy and while we might not be the smoothest team with the ball, we want to turn the heat up on them just like we know they will want to do to us.
“We’re pretty much at full strength now and the feeling around the club is good, but we’re not going to take Swan Hill lightly, it doesn’t matter what form we’re in or they’re in, they are always 50-50 games.”
With Dane Swan set to be the big inclusion for Tyntynder, the Swans will also have some handy additions to their line-up, with another former AFL players Michael Hurley and Jimmy Toumpas set to pull on the maroon and white, along with youngster Lachlan Vrolijks.
While it might be Michael Herlihy’s first taste of the long-time rivalry, the Swan Hill coach was fully aware of what a win would mean for his side, who it could be argued should already have their first four points after last Saturday’s disappointing fourth quarter against Lake Boga.
“I’ve been speaking to a lot of the boys, and more so the older guys and the legends around the club about the rivalry, and they’re all so passionate about it,” Herlihy said.
“We’ve built this game up a bit during the week. We most likely won’t be playing finals, so in many respects we’ve built this game up as our final.
“It’s going to be a big crowd being a standalone game and with Dane Swan playing, so it will be a bit of a finals-like atmosphere. These are the games you want to play well in because everyone’s watching.
“I feel if we play four quarters of good footy, that our best is good enough to challenge anyone.
“We challenged NNW United, we were in front against Tooleybuc-Manangatang at half-time, we just can’t string four consistent quarters together, but we’re certainly not far away either.
“We’ve been stuffing around with the ball through the midfield a bit to be brutally honest and our handball chains aren’t quite getting the job done.
“We win most of the clearances and we’ve got some good clearance players like Cooper Angus, Tom Isma and big Toby (Thoolen), we just need to not muck around with the ball and get it in deep to our big boys and make sure we put a score on the board, or lock the ball in our forward half if we don’t score.”
The Swans will have to contend with an equally deep and talented Tyntynder onball brigade, containing genuine stars Marcus Wattie, Roy George, Matt Corney and Isaiah Bull.
If the Bulldogs midfield can give Jason Eagle and Jayden Magro plenty of supply, it’s hard to see the Swan Hill defence holding the home side to a beatable score.
Tip – Tyntynder to win by 20 points.
KEY MATCH-UP
Jason Eagle v Tom Corridan
WHILE the midfield battle is where the game is likely won and lost, if Swan Hill are able to restrict the influence of the Bulldogs full forward, that will go a long way towards causing an upset.
Eagle is yet to reach the same dizzying heights he soared to in his first season in the red, white and blue, with injury issues over the past season and a half restricting his output.
While he may not be the same dominant forward at present, his best is still outstandingly good, with his contested marking ability and accurate kicking making him a must-watch player whenever the ball goes into Tyntynder’s forward 50.
The challenge for Swan Hill will be who can stop him, with Corridan perhaps their only defender who will be able to compete for height and agility.
THE BURNING QUESTION
How do Swan Hill kick a winning score against the miserly Tyntynder defence?
STATISTICALLY, Tyntynder have the second-best defence in the league by points, conceding 64 points per game, behind only Kerang.
At the other end of the spectrum, Swan Hill have the third-worst attack in the Central Murray, averaging 59 points per game, with Michael Herlihy the only Swan to have kicked more than 10 goals.
That said, the Swans have enough firepower on paper to cause issues, with Kallen Heslop, Luke Phelan and Toby Thoolen when he’s resting capable of scoring multiple goals and challenging the Bulldogs’ back six.
Add in Ned McKeown, who missed last Saturday’s loss to Lake Boga and could potentially return from injury, and the Swans’ forward half starts to look more potent.
