By DAVID NAGEL
CASEY CARDINIA FOOTBALL NETBALL LEAGUE
PREVIEW – ROUND 17
CRANBOURNE v PAKENHAM
CRANBOURNE and Pakenham will bring an early taste of September to the CCFL on Saturday when one of the biggest prizes in home-and-away football goes up for grabs at Casey Fields.
The young but talented Lions take on the big-game experience of the Eagles in a game that will decide which of these two teams can lock away a double-chance with just one round remaining in the season.
The winner will have the luxury of man-managing its list ahead of a qualifying final, while a loss, well it means a full-scale assignment in Round 18 to be a top-three starter in September. The Eagles take on the might of Narre Warren in Round 18 while the Lions face a visit from Beaconsfield, who will more than likely be on a six-game winning streak by then. The Lions won a Round-8 thriller against the Eagles by a point, and on that occasion it was their ability to lock down the Eagles midfield supply to Marc Holt and Michael Theodoridis – who kicked two goals each – that won the day. Lion defenders’ Nathan Brown and Steve Morey were also on top of the talented pair and it will be that ‘all over the ground’ defensive mindset that will be the basis for another Lions’ win if it does eventuate.
It’s interesting to note that Holt and Theodoridis have combined for eight 10-goal games this season – but none have come against a fellow finals contender.
The difference between this Cranbourne Eagles’ side and the one of the last few years is that teams like the Lions now have genuine belief that they can beat them. Beaconsfield, Berwick, ROC and the Lions have all tasted success against the Cranbourne this season… they’re still good, but that aura of Eagle invincibility… it’s simply not there anymore.
The Eagles however, apart from a long-term injury to Ryan Davey, are starting to get the core of last year’s grand-final side back on the park. Matt Thompson and Max Gearon played their first game for the season together last week, while Mat Fletcher’s return through the reserves will prick the interest of opposition coaches.
Fletch is a high-class finisher with only champion full-forward Holt, having kicked more goals for the Eagles in the 10-year existence of the CCFL.
Does Scott Sutherland rush the talented goal sneak back, after just one game and three goals in the twos, or does he hold fire and unleash Fletcher in the finals?
Who’d want to be a coach!
There will be some magnificent match ups here, with some important ones based around the return of Brown from a niggling injury. If he does play, he will more than likely resume an aging rivalry with Holt, allowing Morey and Jason Fisher to gang-up on the dangerous Theodoridis.
There is class all over the ground here with Steve O’Bryan, Russ Lehman, Dom Paynter and Dean Blake for the Lions taking on Ryan Jones, Luke Bee-Hugo, Brandon Osborne and Curtis Barker who are always up for a fight.
This one will come down to which team can take its chances, and how the Lions’ forward line led by Daniel Fry, Cory Lenders, Troy Toussaint and Jake Barclay can penetrate a back-six that has weathered many a heavy-storm in the past.
This one’s a toss of the coin.
If the Eagles produce their best footy they win, but if they take the foot off the accelerator just slightly, or become the definition of frustration – as they did against the Lions in Round 8 – O’Bryan and his young band of stars will make the home-side pay.
The Lions are about to make their biggest statement of the season and will sneak home by 11 points.
BEACONSFIELD v TOORADIN
BEACONSFIELD – a week away from taking centre stage – will be hoping to avoid an embarrassing costume malfunction prior to its big performance when it welcomes a fired-up Tooradin to Holm Park Road.
The lights and cameras are in place for the Eagles’ last-round clash with Pakenham; all that is needed now is for a victory over the Seagulls to set up an action-packed Round 18, where Clint Evans and his boys will need to defeat the Lions to secure a top-three finish.
The Eagles suffered a severe case of stage-fright in the opening two rounds of the season, but cast aside a few extras and have since won 11 of their last 14 games. Shaun Pollard, Scott Meyer and Daniel Mislicki have been the star performers, but behind the scenes crew like Josh Dodsworth, Jayden Gee and Jesse Linkins have also been important to the Eagles winning-production.
Tooradin was fantastic in its best-of-the-season victory over Berwick last week, with its champion Matt Wade just refusing to concede defeat, leading youngsters like Troy Dolan, Kris Sabbatucci and Josh Brown on a memorable adventure.
The trick for Tooradin now is for its aspiring leaders, players like Jake O’Donnell, Scott Szucs, Adam Galea and Jimmy Cottrell, to make sure last week was not a flash in the pan… that it was a standard that will remain the benchmark for the remainder of the season.
Tooradin is exciting, but Beacy is desperate and will emerge from backstage with a 43-point victory.
ROC v KEYSBOROUGH
ROC will look to rebound from its most disappointing result of the season when it takes on Keysborough at Starling Road on Saturday.
Brad Jones and his young Kangaroos were given a stark 128-point reminder from Narre Warren last week on just how far they still have to go to consistently match the best teams in the competition. Sure they’ve done it in bursts, but last week they looked like rabbits caught in the spotlight, not Kangaroos looking to take significant bounds up the ladder.
But all is not lost.
If the Kangaroos can roll the Burra, then take the points on a tough road trip to Tooradin, they will finish the season with eight wins and double their output from 2013. Embarrassment aside that should be incentive enough for Blair Allan, Ben O’Loughlin, Travis Woodfield and Tom Marks to roll up the sleeves and make sure the job gets done.
Keysy produced its best performance for quite some time last week and, even if it can’t get the points against the Kangas, will look to take some confidence into what’s sure to be an emotion-charged home-clash against Hampton Park in Round 18.
Tim Werner, Geoff Humphreys, Danny Morland and Cam Dalton will once again batter and bruise their bodies for the Burra’s cause, but the Kangas will rebound with a 67-point win.
DOVETON v NARRE WARREN
CHALLENGES just don’t come any bigger than what confronts Doveton on Saturday when it hosts a momentum-building back-to-back champion in Narre Warren at Robinson Oval.
In every way the Magpies are just a huge team, not just imposing with their talent and record, they are a physical challenge that is almost impossible to conquer at this level of football. To watch the Magpies warm up last week was to watch a team with not one physical weakness, with young ruckman Jordyn Flannery not looking out of place against a myriad of mature bodies.
Hang on… we better stop… that’s starting to sound a bit creepy!
The Magpies depth is amazing, with players like Chris Collins, Dylan Quirk and Justin Marriott all guns but, in this line up, they just play their role. So do champions like Michael Collins and Nick Scanlon, emerging stars like Ryan Morrison and Liam Myatt, the Baskaya brothers, Kain and Kerem…
The list just goes on and on.
Doveton has made some real gains in the second half of the season and will be keen to make last week’s shocker against Cranbourne a blip on the radar. To do that they will need to dig deep, a discipline made into an art-form by players like Shannon Henwood and Frank D’Agostino who will need to lead the way again on the weekend.
But it’s the Magpies by plenty.
HAMPTON PARK v BERWICK
BERWICK coach Rhys Nisbet will be looking to the heavens this week and thanking the powers that be for small mercies as his side travels to Robert Booth Reserve to take on cellar-dweller Hampton Park.
The Wickers did what they do best last week, making their opposition – this time Tooradin – look inept before stopping as if shot.
Fair dinkum, if you were on death row, and this Berwick side was the executioner, you’d still be half a chance because the boys from Edwin Flack just lack that killer instinct. They can blindfold you and lead you into dark places but when the trigger needs to be pulled… they can’t fire a shot.
Madi Andrews is a magnificent leader, the real heart and soul of his side, so when he went off injured at the 19-minute mark of the final-term last week, his team could either step-up or step-down.
Tooradin’s youngsters were just more desperate from that point forward when it was the Wickers who had more to play for.
There’s no question that the Wickers can still be a major player this year because, when they’re playing their best footy, they’ve shown they can dominate all bar Narre Warren. The three young Jakes – Gains, Wilson and Yields – played well against the Seagulls last week and their talent and enthusiasm will be enough to drive the Wickers to a triple-figure margin.
ROUND 17 TIPS
Cranbourne v PAKENHAM
BEACONSFIELD v Tooradin
ROC v Keysborough
Doveton v NARRE WARREN
Hampton Park v BERWICK
