GOLDEN Rivers heavyweights Ultima and Hay will resume their rivalry Saturday afternoon, with last year’s grand finalists set to lock horns once again.
Both the Lions and Roos sit on top of the ladder, with both clubs remaining undefeated after the first two rounds.
Just one point separated the two teams in last year’s grand final, with Ultima claiming bragging rights for the last six months as a result.
History will count for little on Saturday though, other than motivation for Hay after last year’s defeat, with Lions co-coach James Moran looking forward to finding out where his side sits compared to their rivals.
“They (Ultima) are a really good side structurally. They’re a very well coached side and a really cohesive unit,” Moran told The Guardian this week.
“We’ll be missing Will Collis and Simon Bunyan, but other than them we will be pretty close to full strength.
“It will be good to test ourselves against who we consider to be the best team in it and test our structures, test our players and do our best to get a good read on them.
“Even though over the last three years we’ve had a really good rivalry against them, with a lot of close games and we’re one-all in grand finals.
“It’s been a really good rivalry against them and it’ll be really good to see how they play, how we play and make plans if we match up on them again later in the year.”
Making the Lions’ task easier will be the return of Jack Cattanach, who missed last Saturday’s six point win over Murrabit, with key forward Declan Watson and Tom Davies also set to play their first games of the season on Saturday.
Ultima on the other hand will go in with a largely unchanged line-up, with key forward Josh Dwyer the only likely inclusion for the Roos.
After being forced to earn the four points against Moulamein last weekend, Ultima co-coach Mitch Seton-Stewart will be looking for improvement from his team on Saturday, with the Roos’ ball movement expected to be a major focus.
“Our composure with the footy last week was a bit too aggressive in that it felt like we were just going a hundred kilometres an hour the whole game,” Seton-Stewart said.
“If we do find ourselves in those situations we probably need to just slow the footy down a little bit and play a bit of tempo footy, try to maintain possession for a period of time and take the sting out of the game.
“I think this weekend will be much the same, they (Hay) like to keep possession of the footy and play that sort of chip and chase style.
“If we can just slow that down and slow ourselves down and try not get sucked into their way of playing, that’ll go a long way towards us winning the game this weekend.
“Everyone knows what Hay has midfield wise and that will be where the game is won and lost.
“They have some quality players in there and if we can break even with them around the contest and get our contested possession numbers up, that will be a key indicator for us.”
Among the key players for the Lions will be Jack Headon, who has booted 14 goals across the first two rounds, and Fergus Cattanach, who has been named among Hay’s better players on both occasions.
Ultima on the other hand will be looking for midfielders Darcy Farrell, Tom Bull and Seton-Stewart to continue their good form, along with ruckman Jye Purtill, who has also been among the Roos’ best against Wandella and Moulamein.
Macorna will host Moulamein this weekend, with both clubs aiming to secure their first points of the 2025 season.
It has been a difficult start to the year for the Swans, who have had to contend with both Hay and Ultima in their first two matches, while Macorna were unlucky not to get the job done against the Bombers last weekend, after falling just four points short of victory.
The final match of round 3 will be at Murrabit, with the Blues hosting Wandella.
