HAVING started the season with six straight wins, Nyah-Nyah West United will go into Saturday’s encounter with the reigning premiers as favourites according to Kerang coach Troy Coates.
The Demons were embarrassed by the Blues the last time they met, with Kerang kicking eight unanswered goals on their way to an 81-point victory in last year’s preliminary final that ended NNW United’s dream finals run.
But since then, the Demons have taken all before them and as such, will be the team to beat on Saturday, in Coates’ opinion.
“We’ve spoken about the need to make a statement on Saturday and we’re the team that’s normally the hunted, but it will be a bit of a different position for us being the underdog and the team hunting the undefeated side for once,” Coates said.
“It will be a big weekend for our club on our own home deck, with it being our premiership reunion and ladies’ day, but we’re looking forward to the challenge of performing in front of a big home crowd.
“They’re coming in with red hot form, but I think we play our best footy when we’re challenged and playing the best sides.
“We enjoy playing teams that take the game on because we feel we play a similar brand of football.
“Obviously with (Brandyn) Grenfell and the Iudica brothers in their team they will have a different look to last year, but their big weapon is their speed.
“They have some really dangerous small forwards and they got a hold of us during the season last year, so we’ll be mindful of not being caught out by those guys and what they can produce again.”
While Coates and the Kerang brains trust will be watching the Demons forward line carefully, it will also have a vastly different look to the one that defeated Cohuna by 25 points, with key forwards Nick O’Neill and Alex Erlandson both accepting one-match suspensions after separate incidents last Saturday.
Their absence will leave Brandyn Grenfell fighting one out as NNW United’s lone key forward.
Demons co-coach Jason Murphy told The Guardian this week his team had plenty of other dangerous avenues to goal, even without O’Neill and Erlandson.
“He (Grenfell) will be really important for us, but Cohuna sat two, three and at times four players on him and shut him down, which meant we just needed to hit up our shorter targets and hit the scoreboard that way,” Murphy said.
“We’ve got some talented young forwards down there like Liam White, Charlie Boulton and Darcy Butler, so hopefully they can pop up if they’re going to sit multiple guys in front of Grenfell and we’ll hit those targets instead.”
NNW United will also be without their captain and key midfielder Brady Davidson, who aggravated his quad last Saturday, which will only challenge the visitors’ midfield depth in the continued absence of Ethan Saville.
Saville is a major loss for the Demons, who are now facing the Central Murray’s most talented midfield without their best onballer, with Murphy aware that the contest will most likely be decided in the middle.
“Their (Kerang) ball movement and the way they switch the play and change angles will be a key focus for us,” Murphy said.
“They’ve been the benchmark in the league for the last 15 years with the way they move the footy, so we’re hoping to limit them in that area, which is an area we’ve worked really hard on over the summer with our structures.
“We also want to get our own running game going too, which started to improve on the weekend against Cohuna.
“Dom Gallo was excellent at it in terms of testing the tackler and breaking the lines and provided we can shut down their ball movement, we think we can go with them.
“But to get our game going, you first have to win the contest and they’re obviously strong in there as well with (Marty) Kelly, (Sam) Heavyside and now (Brett) Kennedy.”
NNW United will also need to contend with Josh Nitschke, Ryan Gillingham and Bradlee Pay, who are all capable of finding plenty of the ball.
Add in Nick Lang in the ruck and matchwinners Lachlan Ross and Sean Hunter across half-back, along with dangerous forward Jarryd Pertzel who returns from injury, and you start to question whether it’s the reigning premiers who should go into Saturday’s match as favourites.
Tip – Kerang to win by 10 points.
KEY MATCH-UP
Josh Hunter v Brandyn Grenfell
IT’S no secret that Kerang are stretched for key defenders this season, with young gun Josh Hunter the Blues’ only genuine key defender.
They couldn’t have picked a better weekend to host the Demons, who will be without key forwards Nick O’Neill and Alex Erlandson through suspension, which will only heap the pressure on leading goalkicker Grenfell to perform.
So far Grenfell has been a dominant force, averaging over four and a half goals a game and leading the way as the Central Murray’s No.1 goalkicker.
The challenge is whether he can perform against one of the league’s most improved players, with Hunter having already held key forwards Darcy Hourigan (Mallee Eagles), Lachlan Gardner (Woorinen) and Jason Eagle (Tyntynder) to a combined total of four goals in three games so far in 2024.
THE BURNING QUESTION
Does last year’s preliminary final motivate or scar NNW United?
WHILE the Demons were completely outplayed in last year’s penultimate game of the season, they were also banged up and ready for the picking by the Blues.
A truer read of their form against the reigning premiers can perhaps be taken from their one-point loss back in round 14 last season, when the Demons not only matched Kerang’s ball-winning ability on the inside, but then cut them open on the outside with their run and speed.
There’s no doubt that their preliminary final capitulation still burns deep and some could argue could well have been the catalyst for their unbeaten start to this season – but there’s no bigger test than beating the Blues at Riverside Park.
We’ll soon know whether the Demons are the real deal come 5pm Saturday evening.
