Campbells Creek v Avoca
Campbells Creek will be at home on Saturday when they host Avoca and both teams will be eager to win their first game of the season.
Creek were very competitive against Harcourt on Sunday and if they can take that same form into
this encounter with the Bulldogs, then they will be very hard to beat.
New recruits Nick Swan, Matthew Hodgetts, Kaleb Kennedy and Harrison Booth were all very impressive in their debut for Creek, as was Daniel Klimeck who was once again up to his consistent best.
Avoca was also well served by new recruits in Alistair Meldrum, Brad Martland and Steve Wylie, while local boys Toby Beavis and Bryce Howell also contributed at a high level.
The Bulldogs will be hoping that Coach Adam Pollock will be fully fit to take on his old team, and will also be looking forward to see there new full forward in Marcus Kenny take the field for his first game of the season.
This game should be a close contest and if Creek play with the same never say die attitude of last Sunday, then they will be favoured to win at home.
Maldon v Royal Park
After a disappointing start to the season, Maldon travel to Hedges Oval to tackle Royal Park and will be looking for a vast improvement in form to what was produced against Natte-Bealiba last round.
The Bombers were never in the game against the Swans, and were lucky that Natte were errant in front of goals in the first and third term or the scoreline may have been much worse for the visitors.
Improvement is expected as the Bombers gel together as there is a number of new players that have come with coach Jon Roberts, while key players, Hayden Kelly and Josh Pascoe were not on the team list on Saturday.
Royal Park are coming off a 46 point victory over Avoca and will be confident of continuing their winning form after such a convincing victory. However it was only in the second quarter that they took control of the game and set up the win with eight goals for the term. It was a close tussle for the remainder of the game, as they only outscored the Bulldogs by a point for the second half.
So the Tigers will be looking for improvement over the entire game and will not be taking the Bombers lightly. Coach Zac Tunbridge led the way against Avoca and should be able to lead his charges to victory once again at home on Saturday.
Trentham v Talbot
In what could be one of the matches of the round, Trentham will host Talbot under lights on Saturday in a Twilight game.
Talbot was very impressive in their home match victory over Newstead last Saturday, however they did allow the Steaders to outscore them significantly in the final term, and will have to play at their best for four quarters to get the points over the ever improving Trentham team.
The Saints were very competitive against the League four time premiers last week and it was only a glitch during the second quarter which saw the Grasshoppers slip out to a 30 points lead at half time.
With the final margin being 37 points, the Saints were very competitive for the second half and will be looking forward to putting that form to the test against the Hawks on Saturday evening.
It is rumoured that the Hawks star recruit in Zach Peoples has sustained a serious shoulder injury and could be missing for some time and if true this could severely diminish the Hawks goal kicking power.
Ryan Aquilina, Brent Shaw and Brendan Masters were all very good for the Hawks on debut and showed why they were targeted by the Hawks recruiting team, and will need to be at their best again this week.
The Saints were also very active in recruitment during the off season and Elliot Drew was one of the new recruits to impress in his return game to the club.
A great contest is expected at Trentham on Saturday evening and it could be the home ground that sways victory in favour of the Saints.
Navarre v Harcourt (Sunday)
Harcourt make the trek up to Navarre on Sunday looking forward to the challenge of taking on the League powerhouse, and trying to keep their winning form intact after a fighting victory over Campbells Creek last Sunday.
The Lions had to fight off Creek who continued to fight out the game in a goal for goal contest.
Brayden Frost impressed for the Lions up forward and around the ground, while Sam Gale gathered numerous possessions throughout the middle of the ground and it will be interesting to see how the Lions midfield fares against one of the best in the League.
Navarre won the midfield battle last week against Trentham and will be a tough opponent for the Lions. Daniel Parkin, Louis Hannett, Sam Kaye and Josh Fowkes are a strong engine room and this is where a lot of Navarre’s forward pressure is set up.
Navarre forwards Cody and Ash Driscoll were joined by former Navarre youngster and AFL Dual premiership player in Tim Notting last week, kicking five goals, and he will also be taking the field for the Grasshoppers again this Sunday, and should prove a handful for the Lions defence.
Navarre should be able to get the points on Sunday as they endeavour to fly there fifth flag in a row in Season 2017.
Carisbrook -v- Maryborough Rovers
Maryborough Rovers will face a stern test of its new-found winning form, with the Magpies set to tackle one of the MCDFNL’s premiership favourites in the form of Carisbrook this weekend.
The Magpies enjoyed one of their brightest starts to a season in recent memory last weekend, comprehensively outplaying Lexton to notch up the club’s first victory in the opening round of 2017.
That newly discovered confidence will undergo a thorough examination this weekend however, with the Pies set to take on a club which has taken part in the past three grand finals.
Further raising the hurdle in front of Rovers will be the absence of Troy Chaplin, with the 200-game AFL star unavailable due to coaching commitments with Melbourne, while Chaplin’s brother Jarred will also be absent from the Magpies’ line-up, having returned to play football in Adelaide after a one-off appearance for his former club last weekend.
The duo starred for the Magpies in round one, and first-year coach Brendan Tranter will now look to some of his more experienced players to fill the void left by the pair’s absence, with the likes of Scott Sellers, Glenn Handley and Brad Fraser more than qualified to step into the breach.
Their opponents in Saturday’s clash on the Redbacks’ home turf will also enter the match-up brimming with confidence, having comprehensively dismantled Dunolly by 100-plus points in round one.
The Brook’s first outing under co-coaching duo Matt Bilton and Jackson Bowen showcased the running power and versatility of Carisbrook’s line-up, with no less than 11 separate Redbacks recording a goal to their name last round, spearheaded by nine goals to elusive half-forward Luke Treacy.
While the Redbacks face a far different opponent this weekend in the form of a resurgent Rovers, the Carisbrook line-up will enter Saturday’s clash with the tag of favourites, while a Rovers victory would be a major turning point in the club’s recent history.
Lexton -v- Newstead
Both Lexton and Newstead will enter their match-up in search of a breakthrough win for 2017, after both the Tigers and the Roos found themselves outclassed in round one.
Starting the season with a loss has not been a familiar feeling for either club in recent years, and both teams will be keen to atone for the early blemish on their 2017 record.
Scoring seemed to be chief among Lexton’s concerns last round, with the Tigers only managing the one goal in the first three quarters of their match with Rovers, and the fact that they managed four final quarter majors will have done little to soothe the concerns of second-year coach, Matt Brown, who sat out last week’s season opener with a back injury.
Brown has been Lexton’s major avenue to goal since the Tigers entered the MCDFNL in 2011, and without him in the goal square, Lexton looked bereft of a genuine forward target, with first-gamer Steele Cox the only Tiger to boot multiple majors.
Meanwhile, first-year Newstead coach Dylan Bourke will be keen to see a four-quarter performance from his charges this week, after a second half fadeout against Talbot last round.
The Roos stayed within touching distance of Talbot up until the main break last round, before the Hawks opened the floodgates in the third and fourth terms. Newstead did manage to trim the margin in the final quarter of their round one clash, indicating that fitness is not the issue, but rather sustaining their efforts for the entirety of a game.
Dunolly -v- Natte Bealiba
Dunolly looks bound for yet more pain this weekend, with the Eagles set to take on a side many have tagged as a genuine premiership threat in the form of Natte Bealiba on Saturday.
Following their tumultuous off-season, the Eagles suffered a 125-point drubbing at the hands of another flag contender in Carisbrook in round one, and unless things make a remarkable turnaround in the space of a week, the tough start to 2017 looks set to continue this week, up against a Swans outfit which administered a 100-plus win of its own against Maldon last week.
After reaching a preliminary final in 2016, the Swans look to have lifted another notch in 2017, and with more high-quality players set to be injected into Natte’s line-up for round two, trouble is looming for the Eagles.
Emmet Smith made a remarkable return from the ankle injury which sidelined him for much of 2016, with the small forward booting six goals in round one, and now looks set to be joined by former Swans captain and 2011 premiership centre half forward, Mark Fitzgerald in the forward line, making Natte a volatile scoring threat both in the air and at ground level.
Also likely to return to Natte’s line-up are premiership wingman Daniel Gifford and first-year Swan and Brdigewater premiership player, Callum Prest.
Last Modified on 28/04/2017 09:47