HAVING dropped out of the top five for the first time in 2023, Kerang will be out to depose the team that replaced them when they meet on Saturday afternoon.
The Mallee Eagles’ massive 87-goal win over the Raiders, combined with the Blues’ three-goal loss to Swan Hill last Saturday, meant the two teams swapped positions in fourth and sixth, with only percentage – and Balranald – separating the clubs with six wins on the ladder.
The scene is now set for a massive encounter at Lalbert, with the winner guaranteed to sit a game clear in fourth place, and the loser left to fight with Balranald for the last spot in the finals over the coming weeks.
The Eagles couldn’t have been more impressive last Saturday in their dismantling of Koondrook-Barham, scoring an incredible 102 goals for the game, while restricting their opponents to just 15 goals.
This game will be a far different proposition, however, with Eagles coach Meg Allen well aware of the threat that her opposition will provide when they hit the court.
“We’re all really excited for tomorrow” Allen said. “It’s been such a close season so far and there’s so little separating every team that you need to be at your best every week.
“Last weekend proves that every game is vital, and when we play one of those teams competing for the finals, which Kerang are, then it becomes even more important for both teams to get that win.
“Credit to Kerang, they started the season really strong and they’ve had the whole season to gel and are a really strong team, but I don’t think we can pay much attention to our match back in round 2 against them based on the fact that we had eight of our best 15 players unavailable.
“We’ll be a very different team this time around – they played well and took out the win that day, but we’ll be coming up against them as a fresh team.”
The Eagles will have a completely different look about them to the side that suffered an 11-goal loss 10 rounds ago, with key players Kellie Walker, Sonya Lorenzoni, Emelia Shannahan and Allen all unavailable that day.
While the home side will go in full of confidence following last Saturday’s massive victory, so too will Kerang, who almost snatched a confidence- boosting win against competition heavyweights Swan Hill.
With the Blues set to go into this must-win game with a very similar line-up, A Grade coach Chloe Adams is confident of another strong showing from her team.
“We still had some patches of inconsistency last week, it still wasn’t a full four-quarter game, but the things that we’ve been working on really started to gel and come together,” Adams said.
“We have a lot of belief in us at the moment and we’ll take a lot of confidence away from the Swan Hill game, there were just a couple of crucial errors that happened in that last quarter that changed the momentum of the game.
“Despite losing by three (goals), we’ll take a lot of confidence away from that game and it will put us in really good stead for this weekend – if we had an easier game leading into tomorrow, I don’t think it would have been the ideal lead-in to play at our best this weekend.”
Kerang have been one of the strongest teams defensively in the competition this season, having conceded the third least goals so far in 2023.
Much of that is down to their defensive combination of Adams and Katelyn Wright, with Allen’s Eagles set to put plenty of focus into nullifying their influence.
“They’re (Kerang) strong across the court, but Chloe and Katelyn are particularly tough to combat with their height in the defensive ring,” Allen said.
“They win a lot of balls down that end of the court, so we will need to slow the game down a little bit and be more assured with our passes.
“They are still going to win their intercepts, but if we can try and keep that to a minimum and score off our centre passes and work hard defensively, then hopefully we can get across the line.”
The battle between Adams and Mallee Eagles goal shooter Kellie Walker promises to be a highlight of the match, while the battle between the mid-court combinations will likely decide the outcome.
If Courtney Robertson can fire under the posts for the Blues, then they may be hard to stop in what is a toss-of-the-coin match.
Tip – Kerang to win by one goal.
TYNTYNDER v WOORINEN
WOORINEN will look to lock away a top-three finish when they face Tyntynder at Alan Garden Reserve.
The Tigers are on a five-game winning streak and come into the match as one of the form teams of the competition, having lost just one match to the unbeaten Lake Boga so far this season.
That spells danger for a Tyntynder outfit who will be fresh off the bye, despite the Bulldogs having also won their past two matches.
Woorinen comfortably accounted for the Doggies in round 2 by 22 goals, with Tayla Bennett dominating in the ring with 46 goals.
While Tyntynder have improved markedly since that afternoon, especially through the midcourt with Monica Ellis, Demi Wall and Toni Rivett, they still have a long way to go to match the team considered most likely to challenge Lake Boga. Tip – Woorinen to win by 13 goals.
NNW UNITED v LAKE BOGA
LAKE Boga will be out to keep their unbeaten start to 2023 intact when they travel to Nyah and take on the Demons.
The return of Laura Anderson has helped the Demons put together some more consistent performances in recent weeks, however they still appear a fair way off the pace compared to the ladder leaders.
Consistency has been the key this season for the Magpies, and even with both Sophie and Emma Peacock missing last Saturday’s 40-goal win over Tooleybuc-Manangatang, they still had more than enough class with Holly Hogan, Lily Brennan and Taigan O’Shannassy in the midcourt to claim the four points.
Much the same can be expected against the Demons, who will be missing Denise Snyder and Matika Mitchell from their 22-goal round 2 loss to Lake Boga.
While the Demons’ defensive pairing of Taylen Blachford and Aleesha Flanagan have been combining well in recent weeks, they will face a much sterner test in quelling the Hepburn sisters. Tip – Lake Boga to win by 20 goals.
TOOLEYBUC-MANANGATANG v SWAN HILL
TOOLEYBUC-Manangatang will be hoping to show how far they’ve come in the past 10 weeks when they host Swan Hill.
The Swans recorded a comfortable 43-goal win over the Saints in their opening game of the season in round 2, and with Tooleybuc-Manangatang sitting second last on the ladder with just two wins, the visitors should be confident of a repeat performance.
Zoe Morris and Ingrid Condely led the way in goals for the Swans that day, as they did last weekend in their three-goal win over Kerang, and will likely provide plenty of headaches for Saints defenders Taylah Morris and Olivia Fowler.
While Tooleybuc-Manangatang have certainly improved since earlier in the season, they will should be no match for a powerful Swan Hill team as they build towards yet another finals appearance. Tip – Swan Hill to win by 22 goals.
COHUNA KANGAS v KOONDROOK-BARHAM
COMPETITIVENESS needs to be the sole aim for Koondrook-Barham when they step out on the court at Cohuna following last Saturday’s unmitigated disaster against the Mallee Eagles.
While the Raiders’ rebuild is well known, an 87-goal loss, having scored just 15 goals in the match, is unsustainable.
There would be nobody as disappointed as the Koondrook-Barham players in that performance, and for a proud club such as theirs, a pretty stiff response can be expected.
While a win may be out of the question, even against a Kangas side who has hardly set the world alight this season, the focus now has to be on consistency and effort, to ensure the Raiders can salvage something from their season and move forward with confidence into 2024. Tip – Cohuna Kangas to win by 21 goals.
