by Jim Gordon
OUYEN UNITED V JEPARIT RAINBOW
In a game more interesting to watch than the final margin of 61 points indicated, Ouyen United's greater depth and class proved too much for a gallant Jeparit Rainbow the last time the Demons and the Lakers met. These two sides also had a good tussle in the opening match of the season at Blackburn Park. Things are a little different this time around.
Unfortunately for the Lakers, they have dropped off the pace having been decimated by injury mid way through the season. At the same time, United have had a dream run as far as injuries are concerned, they have strengthened their team and are playing a very good brand of football. To top it all off, they have addressed a perceived weakness in the ruck by recruiting former Mildura and Warrnambool policeman Craig Deckert.
Young Jeparit Rainbow defender Tyler Edelsten re-injured his shoulder last week and will be doubtful for Saturday’s game. He will be a big loss if he doesn't play, as the Lakers defence comes up against the might of Sonny Lindsey, Brad Vallance, Dom Leach and Wayne Grace.
Andrew Hiscock has played well in the last two games at fullback for the Lakers so hopefully he will have an interesting battle with Lindsey.
At the other end of the ground Jeparit Rainbow’s Daniel Greig has been dangerous at full forward with his strong marking. Grieg will do well if he gets enough of the ball, but with the Demon midfield in very good form and their defence in fine form, Grieg’s opportunities could be somewhat limited.
Last week the Jeparit Rainbow midfield played well, but they were down in numbers. The Lakers were missing Andrew Jackson and Lucas Edelsten and when this happens, it puts a lot of pressure on the Clugston brothers, Ashley and Heath as well as Corey Waldron and Ben Marra.
The Ouyen United midfield is a highly skilled, hard working and precise kicking outfit. This year it has been Glenn Joyce, Brett Knowles and Marc Hahnel who have lead the way, but last week Peter Caldow bobbed up to be United’s best player on the day. Their depth and class should be too much for the Clugston brothers, Waldron and Marra.
With injuries and players unavailable, a lack of depth has shown up in the Laker lineup. In their previous two games against Ouyen United the team has been competitive for large periods of both games. Hopefully Jeparit Rainbow will put in another good effort, but even their best won’t be enough to get anywhere near the almost full strength Demons who are cruising along nicely towards finals football.
SEA LAKE NANDALY TIGERS V BEULAH
Sea Lake Nandaly have a tough run home in the battle for the last spot in the four. They would love to be able to replicate their Round One victory over Beulah and consolidate their finals campaign after a very good win against Jeparit Rainbow last week.
Unfortunately for the Tigers, it doesn’t get much tougher than facing the ruthless Beulah Blues a few weeks out from the finals.
Beulah will be keen to win this one to set themselves up for yet another top of the table clash against Ouyen United next week. What better tonic could they have than welcoming back two stalwarts of their side in Kim Hallam and Rory Shannon who have been out for five weeks.
The Beulah Blues had far too much firepower for Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers in their last match and even though they were down by three goals down at quarter time, they were soon back in the game and eventually ran out comfortable winners by nearly ten goals.
The Beulah onballers Scott Smith and Dale Shannon won a lot of the ball that day providing drive into their forward line where David King and Riley Lehmann were well on top. King finished with seven goals for the day.
Last week Liam Barry was Sea Lake Nandaly’s best, Joshua Longeri played well and Mark Duscher kicked four goals. Throw in the brilliant Col Durie, Mark Roberts is playing well as is Matthew Vining and you will have a Tiger team that will certainly put in a concerted effort all day, but this will not be enough against the skills, strong self-belief and toughness of Beulah.
WOOMELANG LASCELLES V WALPEUP UNDERBOOL
This match could provide the closest result of the day. On paper, Walpeup Underbool look to be the better credentialed side, but their injured list is long and they fell away badly against Beulah at home two weeks ago. In the final term of that match the Roos hardly gave a yelp.
On the other hand, Woomelang Lascelles has been losing, but they have been battling hard. Even against the might of Beulah last week the Cats were within 16 points midway through the third quarter before being blown away in the final term.
The last time they met, Woomelang Lascelles hung on to win by only eight points at Underbool. It was a tight and intense battle for most of the day and the Roos were unlucky not to win. They were devastated by injury early in the match and kicked behinds when they needed goals in the final term.
The Roos lost Kane Munro and Jeremy Rowe to injury in the first half of this match. These were two of their best players and proved difficult to replace putting a lot pressure on the rest of the team. Rowe has been back briefly since this game, but we haven’t seen Munro since then. Combined with the loss of Tim Vallance and at times Wade Champion, Walpeup Underbool naturally battle to cover their losses.
Nevertheless the Adelaide crew are doing well for the Roos. Samuel McDonald, Luke Nathan and Dean Slorach have been putting in and young Joshua Plozza did well in the ruck against Beulah.
Things are looking up for the Cats. They could be without Rohan Coburn and almost certainly Chris Foott, but Joel Donnan should return from injury, young Trent Donnan will play as will Josh Ratcliffe who is back after missing just one match. Woomelang Lascelles play well with these talented youngsters in their side.
The Cats are very keen for a win and are confident as they have already beaten the Roos this season. It should be a good game and Woomelang Lascelles may just about be able to hold out Walpeup Underbool at home.
Last Modified on 20/07/2011 11:02