MACORNA will be looking to confirm their finals credentials, while also locking away a top four spot when they travel to Moulamein on Saturday.
Macorna are now in the prime position to claim the last spot in the finals, thanks to their heart-stopping four-point win over Wandella last Saturday, with the Tigers now two games plus percentage clear of the Bombers with five rounds to play.
But the big motivating factor for the Tigers is to prove they belong in the finals, according to senior coach Scott Wishart.
“We haven’t beaten a team above us yet,” Wishart said. “It’s a pretty important game for our season.
“We don’t have a lot of weeks left to get things right leading into finals and we probably need to take one of the bigger scalps before we get to that position.
“Last time we played (Moulamein) they smashed us in the middle with contested footy and around the contest – we didn’t have enough energy and it showed, so winning it around the contest will be the key to winning for us.”
While it’s an important match for Macorna, it’s a similar story for the Swans, who need to stay on the winners’ list in order to keep Hay at arm’s length in the race for second.
After two losses in a row, including a poor performance against Wandella, Moulamein returned to form last Saturday with a commanding 110-point win over Murrabit.
It was a dominant display from last year’s grand finalists, with key position players Josh Flight and Beau Duggan-Hulands returning to the side and having an immediate impact in the win.
Swans coach Heath Moloney told The Guardian he was hoping for a repeat performance from his side.
“Coming from the week before, I was pretty happy with our performance (against Murrabit) – it can always go two ways and we chose to bounce back and play good team footy,” Moloney said.
“You can be ready to go on the day, but if your forwards kick straight, it makes a huge difference.
“We still kicked a lot of behinds, but the more opportunity we give our forwards, the more opportunities we have as a team to hit the scoreboard.
“We’ll go into the game as we always do and just focus on what we can do and concentrate on winning first possession and getting the game played in our forward half of the ground.”
Making that task easier will be the continued absence of Macorna’s Malcolm Neiwand, with the midfield bull expected to miss at least another week with a hamstring strain.
The Tigers will instead look to Jordan Simpson, who starred in the absence of Neiwand last Saturday, Shaun Haffenden and Alex Ingleton to shut down Moulamein’s damaging outside runners.
The other area of concern for Macorna will be with the Swans’ height, with the home side possessing a number of quality ruckmen and marking forwards in Moloney, Anthony Daw, Flight and Duggan-Hulands. Tigers ruckman Michael Roberts will need to be at his absolute best, according to Wishart.
“We’ll be looking for a big game from him,” Wishart said.
“He’s probably been beaten the last few times we’ve played them, so if he can get on top and give us first use of the footy, it’ll go a long way towards us winning.
“The game will be won in the middle – if we can limit their supply and put pressure on when they’re moving the footy, we’ll have a much better chance.”
The Swans (second) are just four points clear of Hay (third) on the ladder, with the Lions set to go in as warm favourites in their away match against Murrabit tomorrow.
The Blues had been making steady progress in the second half of the season, but took a big step backwards against the Swans last Saturday and will be desperate to atone for their poor performance at home against the Lions.
They will have to do so without Ryan Manning (hamstring injury) and Michael Crossett, although they will regain the services of Nathan Henry and Sean Gillen.
Hay will also have several changes, with Will Clark and Jayden Kinces set to return, while Dom Booth, Luke Arandt and Andrew Low will miss.
In the other match of the round, Ultima will look to rebound from their first loss of the season when they host Wandella in coach Kyle Symons’ 200th senior match for the Roos.
Ultima will go in as favourites against the Bombers, having won both encounters between the teams by an average of 48 points. Mitch Seton-Stewart and Caillum Brady are expected to return from injury.
The Roos will be without key forward Ryan Devereux (back injury) and Martyn Cooper (concussion) who were injured against the Lions, while Wandella will be without Matt Wilkinson and Shannon Burton after their four-point loss against Macorna.
