NYAH-NYAH West United and the Mallee Eagles will meet for the first time since last year’s preliminary final, with another chapter in a growing rivalry between the two clubs set to be written Saturday afternoon.
It has been a slow start to their premiership defence for the Demons, who having begun the season 3-3, find themselves hanging onto fifth spot on the Central Murray ladder.
The worrying sign for the reigning premiers isn’t so much their win-loss record, but the fact that they have only beaten the bottom three sides – Swan Hill, Balranald and Tyntynder.
But while they are yet to defeat anybody of note so far, the Demons will also see Saturday’s match as an opportunity to make a statement, according to co-coach Corey Daniels.
He is excited by the prospect of taking on the team who have shown themselves to be the form side of the competition this season.
“We’ve probably put ourselves on the back foot a little bit with a couple of losses that we didn’t want to have that’s for sure,” Daniels told The Guardian this week.
“It’s exciting to play in games like these when you’re playing against some of the better sides in the competition and we’re looking forward to it.
“We had some good battles with them (Mallee Eagles) last year, they got the better of us in that first final and it was a really competitive game and then we were able to get them in the prelim final thankfully.
“We have a lot of respect for them as we know they’re capable of doing some really good things.
“To be honest, we’ve had some good battles over the last couple of years really and we just have to embrace that challenge, embrace what’s coming up and be ready to go.”
Daniels is set to be one of three key inclusions for NNW United, along with full forward Alex Birch and midfielder Jordan Iudica, with the Demons slowly starting to get their best 22 back out on the park.
The Eagles will be forced into at least one change, with Hamish McGregor expected to miss after suffering a knee injury in his team’s 111-point win over Tyntynder last Saturday, with Isaiah Bull also in doubt with a corked thigh.
While McGregor and Bull are significant outs, the potential returns of Brady Fordham, who played in the reserves last week and Jayden Post, who will need to pass a fitness test, will be more than adequate replacements.
Fordham will be a handy inclusion for the Eagles, who were opened up by the Demons outside run in last year’s preliminary final, with Mallee co-coach Harry Allen hopeful their off-season additions will help prevent lightning from striking twice within 12 months.
“I guess their (NNW United) running game is always at the forefront and that’s obviously their main weapon,” Allen said.
“They probably lack a little in terms of their body size and bigger bodies around the contest, but they certainly make up for it with their speed and agility on the outside, so that’s something we’ll be certainly be mindful of.
“I’d like to think that with some of the players we picked up this year that we’ll be able to hopefully somewhat match them and compete with them in that area now.
“If we can match them in that area, then I suppose they have to try and beat us on the inside and in the contested game.
“It will be a good match-up, they have some players around the ball that can certainly accumulate it so we’ll have to be mindful of them and they also have some key players along the spine that we will have to nullify as well.”
The challenge for the Demons won’t just be around getting their hands on the ball first, but in winning their share of the ball at either end of the ground.
The Eagles back six has been almost impenetrable this season, conceding just 42 points per game on average.
But at the other end they have been equally damaging, with Darcy Hourigan (28 goals) heading into the weekend as the Central Murray’s leading goal kicker, while Andrew Mead-Harding (21 goals) sits not far behind him.
Throw in Brent Macleod (15 goals) and Ethan Pinchen (12 goals) and you can begin to understand why the Mallee Eagles have started the season with six wins from their first seven matches.
For Daniels and the NNW United brains trust, working hard on the basics holds the key to success.
“We’ll try and bring plenty of pressure and try to get them to turn the footy over,” Daniels said.
“That said, we’ve been turning it over a bit at the moment, which has been hurting us as well, so we need to use the football a bit better and be a bit smarter and hopefully that will help us get some speed on the game as well.
“They have weapons everywhere to be honest, they have a pretty strong midfield this year with Harry (Allen), (Matt) Rankine and (Brent) Macleod through there, and Darcy McGregor who’s a really good player.
“Throw in Billy and Zac O’Meara and then Hourigan up forward and they have winners on almost every line, but we’ll go toe-to-toe with them and hopefully come out on the right side of it.”
Tip – Mallee Eagles to win by 24 points.
KEY MATCH-UP
Joel Campbell v Darcy Hourigan
With 18 goals from his past two games, Darcy Hourigan is in some rare form up forward for the Eagles.
Despite being undersized almost every week, Joel Campbell is still the Demons number one stopper and should get first crack at the Eagles number one forward out of the goal square.
Hourigan kicked 11 goals in three games against the Demons last season, but it was Campbell who took the points in the preliminary final after restricting the key forward to just three majors.
THE BURNING QUESTION
Can the Demons find a way through the Eagles back six?
Very few teams have found success against Mallee’s defence so far this season, with Woorinen managing 12 goals in the Eagles only loss this season.
Tom McGregor has returned to his home club with the ability to not only stop the opposition’s key targets in the air but also intercept mark, while Harry McGregor, Zac O’Meara and Clinton Cummins are providing plenty of run and drive from defence.
Have conceded just 42 points on average per game this season, with the Demons so far struggling to reach the same heights in attack without premiership forward Brandyn Grenfell.
Scary to think how good the Eagles back six could be once Joe Halloran and Jayden Post return from injuries.
