By RUSSELL BENNETT
ELLINBANK AND DISTRICT FOOTBALL LEAGUE
PREVIEW – ROUND 13 (SPLIT ROUND – WEEK 1)
THE dreaded split round is back, with only four games on the fixture in the first week of Round 13.
A lot of the focus will be on NAR NAR GOON’s clash with CATANI at Toomuc Reserve in Pakenham.
The ladder is fascinatingly poised at this stage, with the undefeated Cora Lynn the clear standout but the second-placed Buln Buln and the sixth-placed Nar Nar Goon separated by only 10 premiership points.
The Goon is currently two games outside the top four but with games against Longwarry, Nyora and Lang Lang still to come it isn’t yet out of contention for a spot in the ladder’s upper echelon.
It all starts this weekend, though.
The Goon must beat Catani at a kind of home away from home – Pakenham – where it has already defeated Kooweerup and Neerim South this season.
“Ourselves, Garfield and Kooweerup probably have the easy runs home,” said coach Tom Hallinan during the week.
The Goon has had a range of injury concerns over recent weeks, but it’s expecting some key players back following next week’s bye.
Brendan Hermann will play this week, despite battling a rib complaint; Goon favourite son and former Catani player-coach Ben Scanlon will come into Hallinan’s side for the first time this season; and under-16s player Callum Tyler will play his first senior game.
Hallinan is looking forward to getting back out on to the quick Pakenham surface tomorrow but he and his men know to be cautious of what is sure to be a fired-up Catani side coming off a shock loss to Nyora.
“They’ve got a good ruckman, a 40-goal goal kicker and they’ve also got Ryan Eaton – who I coached at Tooradin.
“He kicked five in the second quarter against Cranbourne in Round 4, 2013 so I know what he can do,” Hallinan said of Eaton.
“They’re a good team and I’m expecting them to come out fired up.
“It’ll be a hard game – we know that. We just want to go into the bye with a win.”
The Goon should get the job done on the day that the club celebrates the 50-year reunion of its 1965 premiership side, but Catani is a proud team led by one of the league’s most revered coaches. The Blues will be looking to make a real statement.
NILMA DARNUM’s clash with the rampaging CORA LYNN will be intriguing for a multitude of different reasons.
The Bombers haven’t won a game since Round 5 while the Cobras will be boosted by the return of victorious VCFL trio Ricky Clark, Ryan Gillis and Nathan Muratore for spiritual leader Jack ‘Brumby’ Allen’s 100th game for the club.
Travis Marsham’s men will be doing everything possible to celebrate Allen’s milestone in style after they did just that for Anthony Giuliano’s 150th last week against Poowong.
Nilma Darnum vice president and footy manager Joel Wishart admitted his side is “really disappointed at this stage of the season”.
“We’re not where we want to be, that’s for sure,” he said.
“We have to learn how to win.
“If you look at the Kooweerup game (in Round 10) – we were on top after three quarters.
“I’m excited to see what we dish up this weekend – we’ve got high expectations.”
Beware the underdogs. The Bombers have a number of players who are capable of turning a game on its head on their day – such as enigmatic forward Jay Wells.
Expect Dean Alger’s men to play with a sense of freedom this weekend, given that no one will be expecting them to win.
But if they’re any chance they have to dare to take the game on; to be positive.
“Dean preaches to the boys to do the right thing for the team but to really enjoy themselves,” Wishart said.
“This is a game we all love and that’s probably been the message since the Phil Walsh tragedy.”
Wishart said Tom Campbell was due for a strong performance while Travis Dyke has also been building.
He also touched on the situation facing the club following the decision to withdraw its thirds for the rest of the season.
“In our last game we had four kids and had opposition players helping us out,” Wishart said.
“The decision was made for the right reasons.
“A couple of the boys had been playing both games, so freeing them up is a good thing.
“The league made the call and we’ve already got a meeting planned with them for the end of the year about how we move forward.”
Wishart also spoke about his side’s “non-negotiables” for the Cora Lynn game.
“For us it’s about leaving nothing to chance,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter which side is better on paper – we won’t die wondering.
“We need to get the one-percenters right – talk, just the little things out on the ground, and I think playing with freedom will be key.
“We’ve spoken about the past two games. Some would call them honourable losses but we’re not believers in that. You have to put in four quarters.”
Wishart praised the leadership from the likes of Danny Wells, Zeke Lamb and Nick Murray in what’s been a particularly tough season, adding that the morale of the playing group is still high.
NYORA’s win over Catani showed just what can happen when a side shoots from the hip with its back against the wall, but Cora Lynn will still inflict a big loss on the Bombers this week – particularly given that the in-form Jeremy Monckton is back in the side, and the long-awaited senior return of gun ruckman Brad Horaczko.
The Saints head to LANG LANG this weekend to face the home side at the showgrounds, and Tigers player-coach Shane Urbans fully expects them to be riding a wave of positive momentum from the win over the Blues.
“We know they’re pretty young out at Nyora and once young kids get some confidence and that excitement about their footy they can be pretty hard to stop,” he said.
But, by the same token, he’s seen signs that his side – 10th on the ladder and two wins outside the eight – is “starting to put it all together”.
“Our problem has been consistency but that’s improving each week,” he said.
“It’s taken a while to gel with so many new faces but it feels like it’s all starting to come to fruition.”
Skipper Aaron Creasey is one player who has really impressed Urbans so far, but he tore the medial ligament in his knee last week and is booked in to see a surgeon on Wednesday.
It’s a cruel blow for the side and its lead-by-example skipper, but the likes of Dylan Wilson, Sean Dwyer and Kurt Batt have also impressed and have given the Tigers cause for optimism moving forward.
“He’s just been sensational for us,” Urbans said of Batt, one of the league’s most consistent performers in 2015.
“He’s an outstanding leader. I’d heard of him (prior to this season) but coming down here and seeing what he brings to the table and the respect the boys have for him – it’s amazing.”
It’s a big ask for Nyora to record back-to-back wins, particularly away from home.
Lang Lang should comfortably get the job done but the Tigers can’t allow complacency to creep in against the confident Saints.
In the final game of the weekend, BUNYIP heads to POOWONG on the back of seven straight wins.
Outside of the Cobras, the Dogs are the form side in the competition and with percentage likely to be a huge factor in the final make-up of the top four, they won’t ease off against the Magpies. This could be a bloodbath.
TIPS: ROUND 13 – WEEK ONE
NAR NAR GOON v Catani (at Pakenham)
Nilma Darnum v CORA LYNN
LANG LANG v Nyora
Poowong v BUNYIP
