Crows to win a dust-up

By RUSSELL BENNETT

ELLINBANK AND DISTRICT FOOTBALL LEAGUE
PREVIEW – PRELIMINARY FINAL EAST DIVISION

LONGWARRY v WARRAGUL INDUSTRIALS
Preliminary Final – Saturday from 2.05pm at Longwarry
Ladder positions: 1st (17 wins, 1 loss) versus 3rd (14 wins, 4 losses)
Earlier this season:
Round 1 at Warragul – Warragul 15.20 (110) d Longwarry 9.9 (63).
Round 6 at Longwarry – Longwarry 22.11 (143) d Warragul 13.10 (88).
Round 15 at Warragul – Longwarry 9.6 (60) d Warragul 6.6 (42).

AS far as mouth-watering blockbusters out East go, matchups get no bigger than this one.
The Dusties entered the season as red-hot premiership favourites but the Crows have been the most impressive outfit all year. In fact, prior to Saturday’s semi-final loss to Buln Buln, Longwarry hadn’t lost since Round 1 – that’s 17 straight victories. Two of those were over the Dusties – in Rounds 6 and 15 – but that one loss came against Shane Brewster’s men.
Dean Rice’s Crows were heavily favoured heading into Saturday’s clash with the Lyrebirds but they couldn’t get the job done in the last quarter – despite kicking with the wind and leading by 19 points at the final change.
Semir Zijai, Luke Serong and Stephen Hawkins all impacted the scoreboard and Tye Holland was super once again but Buln’s gun midfield proved just too much to handle – particularly the combination of Bob McCallum and Brent Eastwell.
The Dusties had a far easier run on the weekend though, cruising past the Cats. The likes of Michael Ablett, Daniel Johnson and Shane Brewster owned the centre corridor and they’ll be looking to do the same this week – giving expert delivery to the likes of Corey Nickels and Danny Brewster.
The Lyrebirds big men imposed their will on the contest against the Crows but it shouldn’t be forgotten just how good they are. McCallum and Gray are two of the best ruckmen in local footy, and that’s just not a luxury the Dusties have at their disposal.
Though Warragul never seemed threatened on Sunday against Neerim, the side will have to be far cleaner this week while also remaining composed in front of a hostile crowd. This one will come right down to the wire and with the Crows having the Dusties’ measure in their two most recent encounters, and the fortune of playing a home final, they should just get over the line. Longwarry by three points.