By Ken Moore
AN intriguing round two will be highlighted by Garfield’s game against Nar Nar Goon this week, its first home game in the EDFL.
The Stars showed they would be a force to be reckoned with in their new league after knocking over Nyora last week.
While some cynics will argue that the Stars only beat last season’s wooden spooners, the Saints fielded a line up that was bolstered with a dozen new players and one that will surely press for a finals berth this year.
After getting a taste for finals football in both 2008 and 2009 Nar Nar Goon has its sights set on a premiership this year.
It will need to improve on last week’s effort against Bunyip.
The Goon won in a straight-forward manner, but struggled to kick goals. To give them their dues, they were missing star recruit Brett Dore, who cut open his heel in an accident over the Easter weekend and he is likely to be sidelined for six weeks.
Nar Nar Goon will also miss tall Doveton recruit Daniel Zajac, who sustained a suspected broken jaw last week, but another new recruit, elusive former ROC wingman Kevin Quinn suffered concussion last week but is expected to come up this week.
Garfield’s Nick Marsh also suffered concussion last week, but should also be available this week.
The Stars love a big game and should rise to the occasion and have their noses in front by around 20 points in what should be one of the biggest crowds at Beswick Street in a number of years.
Lang Lang v Neerim Neerim South
The Tigers and Cats will meet in what shapes be a tight finish.
Lang Lang disappointed in round one and in contrast its opponents were quite impressive with a fighting win over Kooweerup.
The Tigers badly missed the on-field leadership of coach Clint Evans, who is still a few weeks off playing and assistant coach Rhys Nisbett last week and the team may need their presence before it produces its best.
On the upside, new ruckman Ben Dwyer looks set to stamp his authority on the league after a very impressive game last week.
The Tigers normally sound defence, one of its strength’s in recent years looked a little fragile last week and with the Cats midfield likely to hold sway the visitors can prevail by a very small margin.
Longwarry v Nyora
Having lost almost their entire midfield, the Crows look hard pressed to feature in the finals this season.
Despite last week’s loss to Garfield, the Saints look far better on paper and will be boosted with the availability of star Doveton recruit Daryl Thomas this week, which spells trouble for the home side.
Nyora should open their winning account with a handsome victory.
Bunyip v Poowong
The Bulldogs will play host to the Magpies in a game that looks a toss of the coin.
While the Bulldogs only managed four goals last week, it does possess noted goalkickers in Danny Casset and Glen Browney, so the result will be decided on the midfield match-ups.
In this area the Bulldogs did match the Goon that has one of the best on-ball brigades in the league for long periods of time and this is a salient sign.
Poowong dusted off Nilma-Darnum last week and appears to have found a number of very handy players.
Bunyip will miss likely promising ruckman Marc Rotunno, who was injured last week, but should strip fitter for last week’s match with Nar Nar Goon and find a way to get over the line if it doesn’t pull up too sore after last Saturday’s bruising encounter.
Nilma-Darnum v Catani
It has been well documented that the Bombers have lost the majority of last season’s premiership side and will likely struggle this season which was illustrated by their loss, all be it quite respectable in the end, to Poowong last week.
The Bombers have picked up a few good newcomers in Darren Arezzolo, James Hamill and Jack Tatterson from the Gippsland League, but they do not compensate for the mass departures.
Catani has also lost a number of key players, but with the arrival of Russell Lehman, Matt Campbell and Andrew Morozoff the perennial finalists should remain unbeaten.
Kooweerup v Buln Buln
The Demons will be desperate to bounce back after a close loss last week at Neerim and likewise Buln Buln, that had a bye last week, but lost their ‘catch-up’ game against the Industrials.
At home most pundits will think the Demons are a certainty.
However despite the Lyrebirds’ big loss in their first game it’s worth noting that they were very competitive for long stretches of play against a side many think are a genuine flag threat prior to a late game fade out.
In what will be a close game, the desire to win in front of home fans should see the Demons snatch the match points.
Ellinbank v Cora Lynn
With a handful of new recruits the Bankers will be keen to show supporters that they can do much better than they did in their opening round, when they produced an ordinary effort against Catani.
The Bankers have a much better list this season but upsetting the Cobras, who stamped themselves as genuine flag contenders once again after a big win over Lang Lang looks to high a hurdle to overcome.
Expect the Cobras to space the Bankers on the scoreboard in the second half.
