MOULAMEIN will be without eight key players for this weekend’s must-win encounter with ladder leaders Hay in a blow that could halt their stunning form reversal.
After strong wins against Ultima and Wandella in recent weeks, the Swans are well and truly knocking on the door of the top four, with only percentage keeping them in fifth position.
It will be a vastly different Moulamein outfit to the one which caused one of the upsets of the season against Ultima last Saturday however, with key players Brett Kennedy, Blake Launer and Adam Saunders all confirmed omissions for tomorrow’s match.
Will Doquile and Josh Wills will also miss with hamstring awareness, while Matt Edwards, Ethan Fitzpatrick and Will Mertz are also confirmed outs for the Swans.
Although Moulamein will be far from full strength, co-coach Brodie Tonkin was still expecting a competitive performance from his team with a spot in the finals well and truly on the line.
“I think the main message will be going into this week that as a team, we don’t really rely on any one individual or group of players to win us games,” Tonkin said this week.
“We have a team mentality and we know we have the ability to compete with really good teams even when we’re not full strength, as we showed against Wandella a fortnight ago.
“It will be a really good opportunity for some blokes that don’t usually get to play a lot of senior football to showcase what they can do and for the guys that have been playing seniors consistently, it’s a good opportunity for them to continue to get good exposure against the benchmark team.”
Moulamein won’t be the only team below full strength however, with the Lions also expected to be without key ball movers Joel Crocker (hamstring) and Dylan Collis for the all-important clash.
With wet weather also expected, which could play into the hands of the stoppage dominant Swans, Hay co-coach James Moran said his team wouldn’t be taking the visitors lightly.
“At their best, Moulamein are a scary proposition for any team, I feel,” Moran said.
“We played them in round 1 and they were a bit light on for players and they were again back in round 6, but we won’t be taking them lightly because even in those games they still pushed us regardless of what the scoreboard said.
“I was surprised by the margin (of Moulamein’s win) last week, but I wasn’t surprised by the result because Moulamein at their best have some really good players and the competition is really close this year, even last weekend against Murrabit we had to fight hard for the whole game.
“With the weather looking like it’s going to be a bit wet, I think it will be a very contested game.
“They have some really good contested players and obviously Heath Moloney is a gun and gives his midfield first use more often than not.
“For us, it will be about matching up on their key players, learning their game style and matching it with them in contested footy.”
Moloney will be a key player for the Swans, along with Tonkin, Hayden Dalitz and William Gibson, with their contested ball winning ability needing to be at their best.
Despite the expected rainfall likely to stymie the Lions’ usually clean ball movement, Hay should still prove hard to beat with Jack and Fergus Cattanach in the midfield and Jack Headon and Declan Watson up forward all in good form.
The remaining two games will be just as important in the context of the season, with Ultima hosting Wandella in a must-win match for both clubs.
While the Roos’ place in the top two is almost assured, the Bombers’ top four prospects are far less certain despite sitting third on the Golden Rivers ladder.
Wandella face the toughest run home of all finals contenders, having beaten Macorna by 33 points last weekend, and will face the reigning premiers having lost both previous encounters between the two clubs this season.
While the Bombers are yet to defeat the reigning premiers in 2025, they have been more than competitive, with just two bad quarters of football across both matches proving costly.
The final match of the round will see Macorna host Murrabit with the Tigers still searching for their first win of the season.
While Macorna won’t feature in the finals series, they do have the opportunity to shape it with games such as tomorrow’s, as the Tigers are a much better team than their results this season would show.
Murrabit on the other hand will be hoping to turn their form around off the back of consecutive 10-goal losses to Ultima and Hay, with Bailey Pengelly, Jack Shannahan and Sam Copland all continuing their strong seasons last Saturday against the Lions.
