By THE GAZETTE SPORT TEAM
The Footy liftout
THE story of Cranbourne’s enigmatic season was condensed into four quarterson Saturday as the Eagles came from 40 points down to defeat a gallant Pakenham at Casey Fields.
Gazette Sports Editor Dave Nagel reports that the comeback of Mat Fletcher from a broken leg was another positive for the Eagles who locked away a double chance with the remarkable victory.
Narre Warren’s Kerem Baskaya needs just one more six-pointer to crack a third consecutive century of goals after gorging himself with 15 majors against Doveton. Keysborough will this week play its final game in the CCFL before moving to the Southern Football League, while Pakenham and Beaconsfield will jostle for the remaining top three spot as we head into an intriguing finals series.
Intriguing – what a word. Russell Bennett saw a pair of intriguing home and away matches in the EDFL West that had all the hallmarks of a couple of mouth-watering finals clashes. It seemed like September had arrived early on Saturday as Cora Lynn reaffirmed its place as the top of the pops in the West thanks in no small part to a seven-goal haul from cult figure forward Ryan Gillis, while Kooweerup took the four points from an at times heated stoush with the Goon. There’s plenty working against the league’s two division split this year, but one huge positive is that – to this point – four of the seven teams in the West are genuine premiership chances.
Switching to the East – the semi-final clash between Longwarry and Buln Buln on Saturday looms as a legitimate blockbuster. Take the firepower of Crows forwards Semir Zijai, Luke Serong and Stephen Hawkins and put it up against the class of Matt Gray, Brent Eastwell, Bob McCallum, Tyson Bale and Brad Virgona in the Buln Buln engine room and anything could happen.
Elsewhere in the liftout, Gazette editor Garry Howe catches up with local footy icon and former St Kilda player Dale Evans for ‘Beer O’Clock’, Jarrod Potter runs his eye over all the local action from the VFL and TAC cup and takes an even closer look at the humble sausage roll for ‘What’s Cooking’.
Gazette Sport
In the Gazette sport section, Russell explores the Catani Football Club’s mission to take Aussie Rules to the world; while Jarrod writes on the next exciting chapter in the baseball career of Berwick’s Scott Simpson, and takes an in-depth look at all the local junior footy finals in a bumper double-page spread.
Also not to be missed is Russell’s chat with Pakenham Warriors Big V basketballer Jim Viray – this week’s Person in Profile up the front of the paper.
For more on the sports you love to watch (or read about) pick up this week’s copy of the Pakenham-Berwick Gazette, or subscribe to the online edition at pakenham.starcommunity.com.au/epaper.
