By Mark Gullick
AFTER failing at Beaconsfield, Berwick continue their nightmare run by taking on Narre Warren this weekend and then Pakenham the following week.
“We’ve got a hard draw, but that’s fine,” Berwick coach Glenn Dale said. “If we’re going to be any good, we have to beat these teams.
“We’ll make some big decisions again like we did last week. We brought a couple of young blokes in and we’ll do it again this week.
“I know Narre has a young team as well so it should be a good game of footy.”
Narre Warren are undefeated after three rounds and have played some quality football.
“It’s a big rivalry game for us,” coach Matt Shinners said. “The last few year’s we’ve had the wood over them, but they’ve had two losses in a row and now head home for their second home game of the year. They’ll be looking to attain from their last two weeks.
“They’re a good side. They’ve got some good young players and a good mix of experienced players.”
With Berwick desperate for a win and Narre Warren desirous in defeating their rival, it will be a big game at Edwin Flack Reserve.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:DOVETON v BEACONSFIELD
Three rounds into the season and Beaconsfield have been the talk of the league.
They convincingly defeated Berwick last week and they did it without several key players.
“It’s going to be a tough week at selection,” Beaconsfield coach Aussie Jones said. “Even though we’ve had no injuries, there will be a couple of changes. Some guys will be stiff, and some guys will be lucky to get back in.”
With his club sitting on top of the ladder, Jones realises his team will now be hunted and urges his players to respect Doveton.
“They’re obviously a strong, proud club. They haven’t had a great start to the year, but they’ll be looking for a big scalp. We’re sitting in the top few at the moment, and they’ll be fired up for a win against us.”
While winless in 2010, Doveton has been competitive in every match.
“We’re out to give a contest,” Doveton coach Mark Ladgrove said.
Doveton will be without Matt Miller, whose return against Cranbourne was short-lived as he injured his hamstring.
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:HAMPTON PARK v
CRANBOURNE
It will be a hotly contested match when Hampton Park host Cranbourne.
Both teams have had indifferent starts to the season, but Cranbourne takes in better form.
They easily defeated Doveton while Hampton Park lost to Keysborough.
“It will be a tough one,” Hampton Park coach Josh Taylor said. “We managed to beat them at home last year and we’ll take some confidence out of that. We certainly have a lot of things to improve on, and discipline is one of them.
Cranbourne’s Doug Koop won’t take Hampton Park lightly.
“It’s a danger game for us,” he said. “They whooped us last year. Just looking at their side, they’re pretty much the same.”
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:ROC v KEYSBOROUGH
Keysborough will be seeking to continue their auspicious start to the season when they travel to ROC.
While ROC are yet to win this year, Keysborough go into the game with a limited knowledge of their opponent.
“They were one side in the pre-season I didn’t get to have a look at, so we go in a little bit cold in terms of match-ups,” Keysborough coach Brad Canavan said.
“Obviously they’ve got the Tivendales and the Fletchers, so we’ll try and figure out our match-ups.
“We’re in pretty reasonable form, so we go in confident.
“Like every other week, we go in expecting to be competitive.”
@BT Sub Sport Gaz:TOORADIN v PAKENHAM
Either Pakenham or Tooradin will record their first win of the season when they meet at Tooradin Recreation Reserve.
While many pundits predicted Tooradin to struggle, the reigning premiers Pakenham have been the shock of the season by losing both of their matches.
“We’ll treat this week like any other week and try and get our processes right through our game,” Pakenham coach Ryan Cassidy said. “We’ve had pretty similar trends in the last two weeks, which has been pretty disappointing.”
“Obviously their performances and results haven’t been great, but they’ve still got some players that can do alright, so we’ll have to pay our respect to them.”
Tooradin were competitive against Narre Warren last week and were able to convert their good play onto the scoreboard.
“We’ll train and we’ll work hard and we’ll keep doing what we’re doing,” Tooradin coach Chad Liddell said.
“We try to play a lot of man-to-man footy and the way we play is very hard to maintain for four quarters, but as we develop through the season we’ll get better at it.”
