By RUSSELL BENNETT
ELLINBANK AND DISTRICT FOOTBALL LEAGUE
PREVIEW – ROUND 6
THE most intriguing clash of Round 6 will take place at Kooweerup, but the spotlight won’t be on the Demons.
Instead, last year’s EDFL East premier Buln Buln will face off against Nar Nar Goon in the biggest litmus test of the season so far for Brent Eastwell’s Lyrebirds. They opened the season with a grand-final rematch against Longwarry but, with the Crows having dropped off the pace to this stage, the only top-eight side they’ve played so far is fifth-placed Neerim South.
“Look, we’ve had a reasonably soft draw so far – probably the strongest side we’ve played against is Neerim South, so there’s definitely no complacency about the situation we’re in,” Eastwell told the Gazette.
The Lyrebirds brushed the Cats aside by 11 goals in Round 2 but this week they’ll face a Nar Nar Goon side full of self-belief on the back of recent form.
While Eastwell said each game posed a new test for his side, this week’s is on a different level – their first game against one of the old West’s better teams in well over 12 months.
“I had them touted as a top-three or four side at the start of the season and they’re starting to hit their straps,” Eastwell said.
“This is a big challenge.”
In speaking about the Kooweerup ground, Eastwell said the dimensions potentially suited his side more than if the game was to be played on the Goon’s normal Spencer Street home deck.
The Lyrebirds’ points of emphasis leading into the big game will revolve around their ball movement, and hitting targets forward of the centre with greater efficiency. Both of those will have to be strengths this week, coming up against a Goon that loves to rebound off half-back and run with the footy.
It’s hard to tip against an undefeated side, but we’re going with the Goon in a toss of the coin – by a goal in the second thriller at Denham’s Road in a week.
Meanwhile, Catani’s task this week gets no easier… in fact it can’t get any harder – Travis Marsham’s Cora Lynn.
But Paul Alger’s side is eager to put in a better effort this round against the league’s pace-setters.
“We look forward to playing against the competition’s best sides,” he said, adding that the keys for this week were to improve their defence and ball use.
“We need to do the simple things better,” Alger said on his side’s quest for continual improvement.
“This isn’t just a one or two week thing – every week there’s something for us to work on.”
Alger said defender Brayden Kennedy had been one of his side’s standouts over recent weeks, while Tanny Rodda led by example “trying his absolute hardest every time he goes near the footy”.
But a win for the Blues this week would send shockwaves through the competition. The Cobras are the strongest side in it on the verge of Round 6 and should win by seven or eight goals.
Longwarry hosts the Warragul Industrials this week in their first clash since last year’s EDFL East preliminary final – which the Crows swooped in and won by 67 points. But the two sides are on different levels at this stage, with the Dusties currently undefeated and Longwarry battling to level their win-loss ledger.
The Crows still have plenty of dangerous firepower up forward, and – in Tye Holland – an absolute champion capable of taking any game by the scruff of the neck, but the form of Ash Green’s men is too irresistible. They should win by six goals.
Garfield will host Poowong at Beswick Street but rather than the result – which will almost certainly be a big, morale-boosting win to the Stars – plenty of the focus will be on 300-gamer Ben Marsh. He’ll hate that, but he’s the heart and soul of the side and will have to put up with it for at least a week as other club favourites, his family, friends and Garfield fans come along to the ground to cheer on a bona-fide Star.
Garfield by 70 points.
In the other three games of the round, Lang Lang will be out to show its potential at home in a crunch game against Nilma Darnum (which they should win); Bunyip will be far too strong for the home side on their trip to Ellinbank; and Neerim Neerim South just has way too many weapons for Nyora. Kooweerup has the bye.
