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Finals double chance on the line BY GRANT KUCHEL
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Round 15 – Saturday, July 25 Rupanyup v Edenhope-Apsley Swifts v Kalkee Taylors Lake v Harrow-Balmoral Jeparit-Rainbow v Pimpinio, Rainbow Laharum v Noradjuha-Quantong Natimuk United, bye
reen Lake might be half empty and the water a bit cool for water sports, but across the road at Dock Lake Reserve, there will be plenty of heat.
A Horsham District Football League double chance is on the line and the loser will also kiss its premiership ambitions goodbye. The ladder tells us there is a two-game gap between Harrow-Balmoral and Taylors Lake, but given their respective draws, the winner of this game should probably assume favouritism for a third-spot finish. Taylors Lake claimed its first win in three games last week but it was less than impressive in disposing of NoradjuhaQuantong. If it wasn’t for the silkyskilled Deek Roberts, the Lakers might well have been in a lot of trouble. Harrow-Balmoral has had everything fall into place but also struggled last week to grab the points. The Roos will realise their intensity will have to lift significantly if they are to bank another four points. The microscope will be on the Lakers’ playing list, especially if the Roos can shut down key playmaker Roberts. Roberts is so often the Lakers’ barometer – if he plays well so does the side. It will be a fascinating contest if Callum Hobbs starts on the Lakers’ key man, and should lead to an intriguing contest as both can push forward and kick goals. Taylors Lake loves to run the ball. Jack McRae, Pat Purcell, Josh Young, Steven Stonehouse and Shannon Stewart all boast plenty of toe and will need to run hard to beat the Roos. Harrow-Balmoral’s tall timber should be the difference. In-form Mick Phelan, Anthony Close and Jandre Slabbert should control the air and, with Hobbs, Eric Guthrie, Tyson
Hogan and Will Plush prowling at ground level, the Roos should be able to make third position theirs.
Baggies on outer It will become mathematically impossible for Swifts to defend their premiership after this week’s game. After scraping across the line against lowly Rupanyup last week the Baggies come face to face with legitimate premiership contender Kalkee. The Kees will love nothing more than to exact revenge on the side that stopped their run at seven consecutive grand finals last year. Kalkee sits comfortably in second place and has far too many scoring options for the Swifts to even contemplate stopping. So much of Swifts’ game plan revolves around the ball being in the hands of Sean Mantell, Jake Goodes and Scott Carey and if you deny the trio the Sherrin, the Baggies tend to struggle. Kalkee has a plethora of scoring options that will test the Baggies defence. Steve Schultz and Josh Beddison have been the main targets, but then the likes of Ben Harrison, Ben Lawson and Grant Schultz have also had an impact on the scoreboard. Kalkee has built plenty of momentum in the second half of the season. Besides its loss to premiership favourite Laharum, it has done little wrong. Fans can expect the game to be physical but Swifts’ lack the depth and class to compete with the competition heavy-
weights. Jeparit-Rainbow will continue to march towards finals action by making it four wins in a row against Pimpinio this week. Considering its draw, it might almost be in contention for a top-three berth. The only issue is that it has to pull off a massive upset and beat Laharum in the final round. It will be fascinating to see how Jeparit-Rainbow regains momentum after a bye. Before the break, the Storm was doing everything right and will have to make sure it is switched on against the Tigers. Pimpinio continues to be well served by Stevie Thomas, defender Alex Hill and Matt Ward, when on the park. It will be a massive task for Hill to quell the powerful Peter Weir. After taking a while to find its feet in the league, the Storm has made massive gains and joint coach Chris Meyer, Luke Werner and Elliott Bath use the ball well and provide polish around the contest. Pimpinio has also made massive gains this year. After a poor start it has become competitive but without Daniel Baker patrolling the back half, the Tigers will struggle to curb a Jeparit-Rainbow side that has finals on its mind.
Panthers reunion Will the 1985 premiership reunion provide the inspiration for Rupanyup this week to end any slim finals chances that Edenhope-Apsley still harbours? The Saints are coming off their second belting in a month from Laharum and will have
SURROUNDED BY SWIFTS: Rupanyup’s Matt Weidemann under attack by Swifts players, from left, Dejan Milosevic, Alex Close and Kyle Ryan in the Baggies’ 12-point win over the Panthers on Saturday. Picture: TRISH RALPH to regroup quickly if they are to make the road trip home enjoyable. The worry for the EdenhopeApsley hierarchy is finding foot soldiers to come to the party and take the next step. Jeremy Kealy and Addison Milner have been leading the party but they need more consistent efforts from the likes of Bartley Nolan, experienced duo Brent Christie and Dave McLeish and youngsters Shayne Williams and Grant Cother. For the second week in a row the Panthers were close but not close enough, and again the last quarter cost them the victory. Mark Tickner has put together an impressive few weeks of great football and, with Noel Jorgensen, Jordan May and the reliable Paul Trotter and David Lang impacting the contest last week, the Panthers will go into the game with high hopes. Rupanyup will view this and next week’s clashes as a chance
to build on good form in the past fortnight and move off the dreaded bottom position.
Demons rolling on Number 13 is unlucky for some but not Laharum, as it puts its 13th win in a row together for the season. The Demons gorged themselves last week and showed they won’t be slowing down in the run home to the finals. The Demons’ victim this week will be Noradjuha-Quantong. The Bombers showed plenty last week but couldn’t close the gap against Taylors Lake. But if they can improve their ball use, they should at least be competitive against the leading team in the competition. Depth is something Laharum doesn’t lack and everyone in the side follows the team play relentlessly. The likes of Gerard Matthews, Cameron Bruce, Brett Ervin and Alex Ellifson often go unheralded
but get the job done each week. Noradjuha-Quantong continues to look to veterans to lead the way and Shane Oakley and Jason Kerr were solid players last week. The Bombers love to go to Oakley as they come from deep in defence while Kerr provides run and carry. Laharum will no doubt look to shut down this duo. The Bombers will then need to rely on younger players in Jack Vague, Nigel Kelly and McCallum Sanders to stand up and be counted. The three key Laharum forwards contributed 21 of their 28 goals last week and the trio will give a Bomber defence that lacks height plenty of worries again this week. With only three games to go before finals, Laharum will be wanting to again go hard and show the opposition no mercy.
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