By DAVID NAGEL
SOUTH EAST FOOTBALL NETBALL LEAGUE
PREVIEW – ROUND 1
BEACONSFIELD v BERWICK
LET’s cut to the chase.
It’s time for the Berwick Football Club to start making its mark beginning with Saturday’s ‘Battle of the Creek’ against Beaconsfield at Holm Park Reserve.
That may seem a little harsh on the Wickers, but over the last decade they have quite rightly earned the tag as the ‘nearly there’ club in the competition. During the 10-year history of the Casey Cardinia league, the Wickers join Hampton Park, ROC and Tooradin as the only clubs to have completed that journey and not played off for the ultimate prize.
They’ve made finals for the last six years but, seriously, they’ve never threatened to go all the way.
This year could be different however; third-year coach Rhys Nisbet has recruited well and is excited as he leads a new-look and very fit list into battle against the arch-enemy.
“We’re extremely fit, we’ve had a tough pre-season but blokes have stood up as leaders and worked through that and we’re ready to go in Round 1,” he said.
“I’m confident we’ll improve but until you get to the real stuff you never really know.”
Just like the last decade, Berwick’s best was almost good enough last year – beating all but Narre Warren during the season – and with star recruits, Ash Smith, Ben Kearns, Michael Riseley and Michael Johnson joining the fray, a one or two week extension from their first semi-final loss from last year is definitely on the cards.
Nisbet isn’t looking that far ahead though, with a tough opening against Beaconsfield, Cranbourne and Narre set to shine the early season light on his side.
“We fell into the trap last year of planning too far ahead,” he said.
“They don’t come any tougher than the first three that we’ve got, and we’re aware of that, and it’s exciting for us because it will really show where we are at.”
Berwick’s style of play in the early part of the season will be intriguing to watch unfold. Losing height with Nathan Waite, Daniel Harrison, and with young-ruckman Jake Gains expected to spend most of his time at Casey, Nisbet will be throwing the magnets around to find his best combination.
Nisbet’s best mate, this week’s opponent Clint Evans, is also expecting Berwick to be the big improver this year.
“Yeah, I think they will be, they won a final last year and they’ve picked up some real quality and they’ll be souped up and ready to go,” he said.
“We just have to make sure we stay in the contest and anything can happen from there.”
Evans is right, with players like Scott Meyer, Daniel Mislicki, Damien Johnston and Taylor Joyce at his disposal anything can happen… but Berwick seem better prepared and will win by 23 points.
CRANBOURNE v NARRE WARREN
TWO last-start losers do battle in Round 1 when Cranbourne host Narre Warren at Casey Fields on Saturday.
Sorry to be flippant… but it’s been five long years since we could say that!
That’s how long it’s been since the leagues’ two powerhouse performers have failed to fly the flag at the start of a season… this is step one on a serious journey of redemption for both sides.
The question is; what hurts more?
Is it Narre Warren bowing out in straight sets after a dominant 17-1 season that looked destined for a three-peat of premiership success, or is it Cranbourne losing its third grand final on the trot?
Whatever the answer, both sides have certainly been smarting during the off-season.
Cranbourne reacted savagely to its grand-final loss to Beaconsfield, dumping coach Scott Sutherland before appointing former Mornington champion and Frankston coach Simon Goosey, who has set about re-educating a list that has thrived predominantly on raw-talent alone.
Goosey has been brought in to bring improved levels of direction, structure, and, most importantly for success, fitness to the players at Casey Fields. Will Goosey’s increased emphasis on structure work, or will more discipline take away from the great attacking flair of the Eagles in recent times?
Only time will tell.
“We’ll be very young early, with a few carry-over injuries from last year and it’s hard to learn a game plan from scratch,” Goosey said.
“You can’t do that overnight; it does take time, so our second-half of the year will definitely be better than the first.”
Goosey said he was aware of the rivalry that exists between the two clubs but that wouldn’t affect his focus.
“I haven’t been involved with the league but I do know that it has been a fierce rivalry,” he said.
“We look forward to it but at the end of the day it’s just another team and a game of football with four points on the line. We can’t get too over the top against one side because then we’ll let ourselves down in Round 2 (against Berwick).”
The Eagles have added pace to their list with Ballarat recruit Chase Struth and an already strong defence will be bolstered with the inclusion of Nick Morrish. Apart from that, it will be a pretty settled line up that takes on the old foe.
The Magpies’ hurt at the loss of Nick Scanlon and Justin Marriott has been quelled somewhat with the return of former stars Jarrod Anderson, Andrew Hunter and Ben Giobbi, while former Noble Park favourite George Angelopoulos brings another element to an already talented midfield.
Coach Chris Toner wouldn’t elaborate but said the Magpies have been working hard to tweak their game style this season.
“We’ll certainly be quicker and we want to be more efficient with the ball but the secret for us is to play to our strengths and be physical,” he said, before lavishing praise on this week’s opponent.
“They’re a great team, they’ve played in four grand finals in a row and not many teams can say that. How they come up, year after year, it’s a real credit to them and I respect them for that.”
It’s Narre by 26 points.
DOVETON v TOORADIN
ALL the ingredients are there for a cracking contest when Doveton host Tooradin at Robinson Oval on Saturday.
The Doves won both contests against the Seagulls last season and head into this battle relieved, after surviving a scare against Hampton Park in last week’s season opener.
The highlight for the Doves was their ability to share the load up forward, with the experienced trio of Cal Pattie, Ricky Hayes and Frank D’Agostino combining beautifully with the emerging Mitch Pierce.
The win was probably better than it looked for the Doves who had nine new faces in their line up and struggled to gel. It was left to the individual brilliance of Pattie and Pierce, and Russell Gabriel in the ruck, to get the job done.
Tooradin itself will face a similar issue this week with Ben Hallas, Ryan White, Kyle Van der Pluym, Rory Gilliatte, Andrew Proctor and Justin McGrath joining last year’s list for the contest. Seagulls’ coach Lachie Gillespie acknowledged the Doves may have gained an edge from last week’s run.
“They’ve got a lot of new players as well and it’s hard to know if everyone is going to gel,” Gillespie said.
“They’ve got the advantage over us now of having that run and they look like they could be a very fast scoring side if given the opportunity. We’ll need to hold them up at every chance, play to our structures, and hopefully that gets us across the line.”
The Seagulls look to have the edge through the midfield, with Matt Wade and White resuming their successful partnership from 2012, but the Doves’ big-man department gives them a slight edge.
The Doves win by 13 points.
PAKENHAM v HAMPTON PARK
HAS Hampton Park really improved that much or was last week’s encouraging performance against Doveton just a flash in the pan?
While some bigger games will take place in the SEFL this weekend, it’s the answer to that question that will be most intriguing when the Redbacks head to Toomuc Reserve to take on Pakenham.
A repeat effort against the Lions means we have a genuine full-scale competition on our hands… and how long have we been waiting to say that!
Matt O’Neil’s pre-season comments that his Redbacks would improve made sense last week, with Nathan Carver and Andrew Shipp providing targets up forward that we haven’t seen in recent times. The Allen’s, Ash and Nathan, also showed the benefits of VFL pre-seasons, while Kane White stood up well against the Doves’ forwards at centre-half-back.
So what can we expect from Pakenham?
It’s fair to say the Lions haven’t exactly set the world on fire during the pre-season, the loss of Norm Walker Medallist Dom Paynter, and leviathan ruckman Kym Jones meaning Steve O’Bryan’s boys are without their two biggest guns from last year.
On the positive side of things, Beau Wheeler and Damien Holmes have added some real spunk through the midfield while Dean Blake won’t know himself after getting through a pre-season unscathed.
The Lions, who did little at the recruiting table this year, will rely on a talented band of youngsters to try and take them to the next step.
Things will look shaky at times, but the Lions win by 29 points.
