By DAVID NAGEL
SOUTH EAST FOOTBALL NETBALL LEAGUE
PREVIEW – ROUND 8
BERWICK v DOVETON
THE changing face of top-of-the-table clashes in the South East Football Netball League continues on Saturday when Berwick turns on the porch light for Doveton at Edwin Flack Reserve.
Over the last four years we’ve relied on Cranbourne and Narre Warren to produce the league’s heavyweight battles, but this will be Doves’ second summit-stoush in three weeks.
And they’ll be hoping this one goes as good as the first.
It was only a fortnight ago that the Doves made an announcement to the football public -“we’re back”- with an at times gritty, and other times brilliant victory over Pakenham.
They ran into a steam-train named Narre Warren last week, but if ever a team would have learned lessons from a game of footy it has to be the Doves.
You get the feeling that Shannon Henwood and his side will relish this week’s challenge against the Wickers.
The Doves tried their best against Narre, matched them for intensity in the first term, but made unnecessary mistakes with the ball, all created by pressure, which made them look like deer startled in the headlights. If Henwood had a timeout up his sleeve, he would have used it after two minutes… but by the time he got to his side at quarter time, is was too late, the damage had been done.
From that point forward the Doves were competitive; they regrouped and showed a fighting spirit that has taken them a long way already this year.
And that’s why they represent a massive challenge to Berwick this weekend.
“Absolutely, we’ve got to be on our toes because Doveton has really improved, they fight hard, and that shows in the evenness of the competition,” Berwick coach Rhys Nisbet said.
“I really respect them, they’ve recruited well, and it’s going to be a great challenge on our big home deck.”
Nisbet’s biggest challenge this week will be quelling the influence of Doveton ruckman Russell Gabriel. The former Frankston VFL star has been in red-hot form this season, and will be keen to rebound after his quietest game of the season against the Magpies.
“Gabriel’s a quality ruckman, and that’s massive for their midfield, and I respect their on-ballers,” Nisbet said.
“Shannon Henwood’s been a quality midfielder for a few years now, and they’ve picked up (Sam) Raru to give him a chop-out.
“They’ve also thickened their spine right up, and we need to concentrate on that and just winning the contested footy as well.”
Doveton will need to be switched on from the first bounce this week, because Berwick has danger lurking in every area of the ground.
Sure, they’ve got star quality like Ash Smith and Ben Kearns, but it’s the emergence of youngsters like Jake Yields, Brody Connelly, Ryan Hillard, Jayden Goumas and Lucas Jellyman-Turner that will be equally as important at the pointy end of the season.
The Wickers just have too many guns… and will ascend to the top of the ladder with a 23-point victory.
TOORADIN v PAKENHAM
WHEN it comes to danger-games some just stand out from the crowd, like Pakenham’s visit to Westernport Oval on Saturday to take on Tooradin.
The ladder would suggest only the minutest element of danger for the Lions this week but, if you delve a little deeper, Tooradin’s form isn’t as bad as it first seems.
Sure, they’re winless, and sure, they’ve been towelled up a couple of times this season, but Lachie Gillepsie has a young group that is dialling in on success.
This week’s game against the Lions, the Seagulls’ first Saturday home-game of the season, provides the perfect opportunity to get some reward for their early season efforts. Recent games against quality opposition in Berwick and Beaconsfield has Gillepsie confident his team will acquit itself well.
“We go into every game pretty confident, because I believe when it clicks with our group we’re going to play a fantastic brand of football,” he said.
“We’ve matched those sides at times over the last two weeks, but then we fall away for periods and that’s when we get hurt.
“If we can maintain that pressure, for the full four-quarters, then I give us a really good chance. But we’ll need to play our best footy to upset Pakky because they’re a very good side.”
Gillepsie has more youth in his side than any other side in the competition. Players like Kris Sabbatucci, Jesse Hand, Troy Dolan and Jordan Kelly are going guns for the Seagulls. They just need a win to get things rolling.
“We’ve tried to keep the morale up as best as possible with a young group, but the best thing for that would be to break this duck,” Gillespie said.
“We took a big step backwards against ROC, but our last two weeks have been good and we’ve been very competitive.”
Andrew Proctor has been a fine inclusion for the Seagulls this year, while Matt Wade and Kyle Van Der Pluym have been damaging through the middle of the ground.
Pakenham recaptured some of its early-season magic against Berwick last week and will be looking to hit the ground running on the weekend.
Beau Wheeler has been in fine form in recent weeks, while Jake Smith, Jason Fisher, Steve O’Bryan and Daniel Fry will be looking to hit the scoreboard hard.
It’s the Lions in a close one.
CRANBOURNE v ROC
CRANBOURNE will be hoping history doesn’t repeat when it welcomes ROC to Casey Fields for its free Community Day on Saturday.
The parents and kids might have time to relax, but there’ll be no taking the foot off the gas for the Eagles, who are looking to make amends for an upset loss to the Roos on this very stage last year.
Cranbourne has basically had two weeks off, slaughtering Hampton Park by 181 points a fortnight ago, before putting its feet up last week ahead of an important four-game block of matches.
Yeah, we know, they’re all important this year, but wins against ROC, Doveton and Pakenham would set up a huge clash against the Eagles’ bitter-rival Narre Warren in Round 11.
The Eagles have welcomed some nice inclusions this year.
Nick Morrish has been important in defence, while Daniel Kitto has proved a dangerous third-forward option behind Marc Holt and Michael Theodoridis. The former Narre Warren junior has size, and the ability to hit the scoreboard, with two, two and three goals in his first three senior outings.
The Eagles also have some slick and dangerous midfielders, with Mat Fletcher, Ryan Jones and Luke Bee-Hugo combining for 23 goals this year.
Speaking of 23 goals, that’s the same amount as the Eagles’ best player of the last decade in Holt, who is back to his best after injury and form cruelled his first month of the season. The big-man has kicked 20 goals in his last two games and will be eyeing off another double-figure haul against the Roos.
I get angry just writing about ROC, and what could have been, so you can just imagine the frustration of Brad Jones.
Seriously, they’ve been 15 to 20 minutes of footy away from being firmly entrenched in the top-five. Those two close losses may cost them a place in September, but there’s absolutely no doubt that they’ve got a result in them that will shape the configuration of the starting grid when it counts.
So, will this week be it?
Probably not, but if the Eagles don’t pay players like Ben Tivendale, Travis Woodfield, Adam Marchant and Chris Potalej the respect they deserve, they could find themselves in trouble once again.
It’s Cranbourne by 42 points.
NARRE WARREN v HAMPTON PARK
HAMPTON Park can expect no favours from Narre Warren when the Redbacks make the most imposing trip in the SEFNL this week to Fox Road.
The problem for the Redbacks this week is this.
Narre can’t afford to cruise this season, not in any game that might cause them to lose valuable percentage points that could cost them a double-chance at season’s end.
The evenness of the competition may be great at the pointy end of the ladder, but for the Redbacks it means teams trying that little bit harder to gain an advantage over the rest of the field.
“We’ll be going absolutely flat-out, we’re not good enough to be taking the foot off the accelerator, they’ll be no changes, no resting of players, absolutely flat out,” Magpies coach Chris Toner said in a very clear message.
It might be going unnoticed in some quarters, but Toner is handling a transitional stage at Narre with real aplomb. Players like Dale Gawley, Daniel Jackson and Matt Soroczynski have grown into regular senior players, while a significant change in game-plan has meant even his long-time stars are taking in something new.
Having had such a successful formula in the past, it’s been a brave move by Toner to try and bring that ultimate reward.
Hampton Park just need to baton down the hatches this week, cop their whack, and hopefully come out the other side with enough confidence intact to take it up to Tooradin in Round 9.
It’s going to be messy… about 150-plus!
