EMOTIONS are expected to be high when Koondrook-Barham host Woorinen Saturday afternoon, with the Tigers to face off against former coach Marcus Demaria for the first time.
While both Demaria and his former club left on good terms, the fact that the Raiders are fighting to keep pace with the top three should ensure a hot contest on the wide open spaces of the Barham Rec Reserve.
While both clubs will come in fresh having enjoyed a week off over the long weekend, Koondrook-Barham will be hoping that their freshness isn’t rust, after not playing since their 120-point win over Swan Hill 21 days ago.
The Raiders’ confidence will be at an all-time high following their win over the Swans, which was their club’s largest winning margin since round 11, 2016.
But it is their performance against the Mallee Eagles back in round 3 this season, where they lost by 114 points, that the Raiders will be aiming to avoid a repeat of according to Demaria, with the Koondrook-Barham coach looking forward to finding out where his side sits.
“It’ll be a good test for us just to see exactly where we are at, because from when we played the Mallee Eagles we’ve seen some rapid improvement each week,” Demaria told The Guardian this week.
“I think it’ll be another big test for us and we don’t want to let tomorrow blow out like that game if things don’t go our way, but that’s the challenge for our guys and I think we have come a long way since then.
“We’ve got ourselves into a pretty good position at five wins, two losses and we’d like to continue our good form.
“We know that we’re playing the league leaders so we’re going to have to be at our best, but we’re continuing to work on our game and on our system, both offensively and defensively and we’re definitely seeing that improvement.
“It’s about us building and hopefully we can continue to build, but we’ll definitely go out there and give it a good crack tomorrow.”
Midfielder Lee Dale will return for the Raiders and give them some class and depth around the stoppages, while Harry Bremner and Ryan Bassett will also return from Pioneers duties for Saturday’s must-win match.
Ben Booth is certain to return for Woorinen, while onballer Zack Ryan also a chance to resume following an elbow injury suffered against NNW United in round 3, with Hugh Thompson (fractured wrist) the only confirmed out for the visitors.
The addition of Dale is a huge plus for the home side, who will have to contend with the likes of Jye Barry, Henry Thompson, Taylor Cameron and Jose Miliado, with the quartet among a host of talented Tiger onballers.
While the midfield is always a key battle ground in most games, it will be particularly important on Saturday according to Woorinen coach Tim Free, with both teams’ forward lines capable of kicking a winning score if given enough and the right supply.
“They (Koondrook-Barham) have some really dangerous players and some good ball users and on the bigger ground at Barham, that will present a different challenge to what we are accustomed to,” Free said.
“The midfield battle will be really important, trying to contain Benji Neal and Lee Dale will be crucial to the outcome of the game and our ability to limit the supply that they get inside forward 50.
“We also want to make sure we apply plenty of pressure to their ball users across half back because they really like to spread the ground and make it big and we want to shut that down and try and confine their avenues forward.”
Although Koondrook-Barham will be more accustomed to the wide open spaces, Free is also relatively confident his team’s ball use will be suited to the bigger oval also.
“I think it (the bigger ground) suits our style of ball movement as it allows us to really utilise our strengths with our ball use, our run and carry and to get some isolation inside 50 with our forwards,” Free said.
“I think if anything, the ground suits us more so than what our home ground does, but the attitude that we bring to the game will be more important than the conditions it’s played in too.”
The Tigers have been nothing but impressive since their opening round win against Balranald, with their ability to transition the ball from defence to attack and hit targets by both hand and foot one of the key reasons why they are considered one of, if not the, premiership favourites.
The other big strength of Woorinen’s is their well organised back six, with Matthew Gardner, Tom Langford, Mitch Uhlhorn and Booth ensuring the Tigers conceed just 42 points per game on average this season.
With such a stingy defence and combined with an attack that is averaging almost 20 goals per game, it’s hard to go past the Tigers for the win – but don’t be surprised if their former premiership coach has something special in store for his old club.
Tip – Woorinen to win by 15 points.
KEY MATCH-UP
Jacob Barrington v Lachlan Gardner
ONE of the key reasons in Woorinen’s unbeaten start to the season has been the form of ruckman Lachlan Gardner, with the Tigers big man now permanently fixtured in the centre bounce under the guidance of Tim Free.
It’s not only his ability to give his midfielders first use around the stoppages but also his capacity to impact around the ground with his contested marking which makes him such a dangerous player for the Tigers.
Saturday will be no easy day for Gardner despite his good form however, with Jacob Barrington also proving to be a worthy foe to some of the Central Murray’s premier ruckmen already this season, having taken the points against Tooleybuc-Manangatang’s Connor Mcdonald at the Raiders last home game.
THE BURNING QUESTION
How do the Tigers replace Hugh Thompson?
SEEMS strange to ask how a team is able to replace a kid who has played just 23 senior games, but Thompson has quickly developed into a key component of Woorinen’s forward line.
Has kicked 18 goals from just eight games this season and fills a key role as a genuine small crumbing forward in the Tigers’ front half.
While the absence of Thompson will hurt, it could be a case of one of the other smalls Woorinen has at their disposal filling that role – such as Daniel Mase, Josh Stone or Xavia Elford.
