BOTH Moulamein and Murrabit will be aiming to lock away a top four finish when they clash at Moulamein this Saturday afternoon.
The Swans and Blues both sit a game clear of Wandella in fifth position, but with two rounds remaining and the Bombers set to clash with Moulamein next weekend, the only way of guaranteeing a finals berth for either side is to claim the four points.
Midfielders Josh Wills and Blake Launer will return for Moulamein, while Murrabit will also receive a boost with James Stewart also set to come into their line-up.
Despite losing both matches against Murrabit this season, Moulamein co-coach Brodie Tonkin is confident of his team getting the job done on Saturday, with the Swans’ big win over Macorna last Saturday giving his team a boost of confidence.
“This season has been a bit up and down with our form, but we are starting to play our best footy over the past month or so,” Tonkin told The Guardian this week.
“It started when we played Wandella about a month ago and has continued on from there.
“We’ve been lucky enough that the boys have stepped up and been able to play some pretty good football.
“It’s only taken us 13 rounds to break into the top four and now hopefully we can stay there.”
While Moulamein will come into the must-win match full of confidence, so too will Murrabit on the back of their season defining 23-point win over Wandella last weekend.
Although the Blues also lead the head-to-head battle two-nil against the Swans this season, Murrabit coach Jack Shannahan knows his team will need to be at their best in order to secure their finals future.
“We’ll take plenty of confidence out of those wins, but we’re under no illusions this time is probably going to be harder,” Shannahan said.
“We’re confident we can get the job done, but they are a good side.
“They’ve beaten Ultima twice, which we haven’t been able to do at all, so when they get it right they can be really hard to beat.
“We’re just going to expect their best, and hopefully we can take it up to them again.”
The key to the Swans’ chances of victory lie with their ruckman Heath Moloney, who has been the dominant big man in the Golden Rivers competition for several seasons.
Moloney’s tap work at the clearances and dominance around the ground puts a target on his back for opposition teams every weekend, with Shannahan acknowledging as such this week.
“For us it’s all about trying to stop Moloney’s impact in the ruck, especially considering we’re still missing our number one ruckman and captain in Ben Gillingham,” Shannahan said.
“We’re probably going to have Jack Keath who is a young ruckman go with Moloney on Saturday and he’s going to have his work cut out for him.
“We’ll be relying on our midfielders to make sure that we’re trying to minimise Moloney’s impact with his hit-outs around the stoppages.
“We’re probably not going to be able to stop him completely, but if we can just minimise his impact a little bit, that’ll go a long way towards us winning.”
It isn’t just Moloney who will be a factor in the result however, with Murrabit also possessing several damaging ball winners such as Bryden Morison, Bailey Pengelly, Adam Thomson, Jacob Wade and Shannahan.
With his opponents possessing depth all over the field, Tonkin is equally aware of the danger Murrabit’s midfield could pose.
“Their top end players, especially in the midfield, will be a focus for us and is an area where we really want to try and minimise their influence,” Tonkin said.
“With good players, that’s always easier said than done, but I think particularly just their competitiveness is sort of an area where we’d want to break even in.
“In terms of the contest and pressure game, not allowing them to turn it into a contested scrap and trying to match them on the inside will be important, but then also keeping our composure with ball in hand.”
While the winner of Moulamein and Murrabit will lock away a finals finish, the loser will be keeping a close eye on Wandella’s game against ladder leaders Hay on Saturday.
The Bombers will go in as underdogs against the Lions, who have won both games by margins of 78 and seven points this season.
It was back in round 9 when Wandella went close to causing the upset of the season, with Hay forced to come from seven points behind at three-quarter time to claim the win.
The final match of the round will see Ultima host Macorna, with the Roos looking to respond to their 22-point loss to the Lions last weekend.
Ultima will start red-hot favourites, although with Macorna showing significant improvement in recent weeks, should have a much tougher battle than their 70 and 53-point wins over the Tigers in rounds four and nine this season.
