LAKE Boga and Nyah-Nyah West United will fight to keep their seasons alive in Sunday’s elimination final at the Swan Hill Recreation Reserve.
It will be the Demons’ first final since 2017, when they lost at this same stage, while the Magpies are aware of what it takes to win in September, having defeated Tyntynder in last year’s elimination final.
But the team wearing red and blue should have fresh legs and confidence, their bye last weekend coming at a perfect time ahead of a likely tough and bruising match.
While very little separated the two sides in in round 2, a one-point Lake Boga win, NNW United turned the tables later on with a 47-point win victory, seen as a turning point in their season.
NNW United co-coach Corey Daniels expected a much tougher opponent on Sunday, especially under the glare of the finals spotlight.
“Teams are always trying to change and improve and I dare say they will line up a little bit differently to the last time we played them, and we probably will as well,” Daniels said.
“I say it all the time, but we want to keep speed on the game and keep the ball moving.
“Chaos footy is best for us – if it’s chaotic, it suits our game style pretty well.
“They’re a pretty good side and they finished fourth for a reason. Our back six will need to play well, but I think it will be won and lost in the midfield.”
The Magpies last time were hurt by giving up the game’s first nine goals.
For Lake Boga co-coach Angus Monfries, their start will be just as big a focus as shutting down the Demons’ run-and-gun brand of footy.
“They jumped us when we last played them at Nyah and we were trying to play catch up after that first quarter,” Monfries said.
“We’ll have a real emphasis on starting well, and being a final, it’ll be pretty hot and contested early.
“We’ll need to shut down their spread from stoppage and their outside run, but more importantly, we just need to get the ball going our way so we can have a few looks at it.”
Both teams were expected to make changes to their line-ups, with Alex Erlandson, Jarrod Skinner and Ben Shadbolt set to return from injury for the Demons.
Monfries, Lochie Laing and Jake Warren were expected to return for Lake Boga after being rested against Koondrook-Barham.
Warren will play a key role in the engine room, and is one of the few who can match it on the outside with the Demons, along with Ryan Fox and Dustin Burns.
The key to success for Lake Boga, however, will be in winning the contested ball and surging it forward from stoppage, especially if they can get it into the hands of their better ball users Tyle Williams, Daniel Dzufer and Nathaniel Holmes-Brown.
“We’re going to need to be good across all lines on Sunday, but I think one area we need to be at our best is with our conversion,” Monfries told The Guardian this week.
“We’ve been having some good entries and creating some good opportunities, but we haven’t necessarily been finishing off our work.
“We need to make sure our forward entries are to good spots, and then as a forward group, we need to make sure we are converting.”
As well as being their best out of the midfield, NNW United will also need peak performance from their energetic and undersized forward line.
With Matt Gibbs and Alex Erlandson expected to share the ruck duties against Jacob Simpson, that will leave Nick O’Neill to potentially push forward and create an extra marking option alongside Hassan Ahmat-Watkins, Charlie Boulton and the underrated Riley Daniels.
With Sunday being the end of the road for one of these teams, a red-hot contest from the first bounce is expected, with the end result potentially coming down to the last play of the game.
Tip – NNW United to win by three points.
