By David Nagel
The pecking order in West Gippsland football should become a lot clearer this week when Phillip Island hosts Cora Lynn in the match of the day at Cowes.
It’s still way too early to speculate, but Inverloch-Kongwak and Nar Nar Goon appear well placed to grab a top-two position this year and a coveted double-chance when the serious stuff begins in August.
The next cabs off the rank would appear to be Cora Lynn, Phillip Island and Tooradin-Dalmore, with three or four other sides all capable of slotting into a finals position this year.
The Bulldogs and Cobras have both been defeated by the top two we mentioned earlier.
The Cobras were very competitive against Inverloch-Kongwak in the season opener on March 30 – going down by nine points – while the Doggies were no match for a fired-up Nar Nar Goon at Spencer Street last weekend.
Bulldogs coach Cam Pedersen would have been disappointed with the way his midfield was picked apart in the first half, although there were some promising signs of improvement after the break.
Players such as Daniel Bourke in the ruck, and prime-movers Hayden Bruce, Jaymie Youle and Max Walton will need to be switched on from the outset against the impressive Cobras this week.
Jimmy Munro and Will Stephenson have stolen the headlines recently, but the Cobras look very well-balanced in all areas of the ground.
Regular defenders Tim Payne and Lachie Peluso now have strong support in Matt Briggs and Luke Black, while Luke Hartley, Tristan Warkuss and Nathan Villella are super-consistent types that coach Shaun Sparks can rely on.
It is only early, but this one has the feel of a genuine eight-point contest between two teams that will be close to side-by-side when tickets to finals are handed out.
Cora Lynn would appear to have the better form, but we’ll go for the Bulldogs to bounce back on their newly-renovated home deck and win by 11 points.
In other games this week, round-one winner Kooweerup faces the imposing task of quelling the firepower of Inverloch-Kongwak at Inverloch.
Demons’ coach Dale Alanis would have been thrilled with the desire shown by the Demons last week, who dug deep to score a memorable victory over Dalyston.
But this is a different proposition altogether, with dangerous types like Nick Baltas, Will Hams, Paul Pattison and Oscar Toussaint capable of taking the game away in an instant.
This will be a great test of Kooweerup’s team defence; they’ll be happy to stay within six goals.
ROUND 2 TIPS: WARRAGUL INDUSTRIALS v Korumburra-Bena, INVERLOCH-KONGWAK v Kooweerup, DALYSTON v Garfield, Bunyip v NAR NAR GOON, PHILLIP ISLAND v Cora Lynn, TOORADIN-DALMORE v Kilcunda-Bass.
