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BURNSIDE HEIGHTS v MOONEE VALLEY - Radio Game
ROUND 4 at Ormond Park gave us one of the better Strathmore Community Bank Division 2 games of 2018 to date.
Thirty-four goals were shared between Moonee Valley and Burnside Heights, with Jordan Faba booting five for the Fog and Covelli going one better with six up the other end.
The Valley got up by 38 points and were in control for the most part.
The Fog is coming off a bye after back-to-back losses to Roxburgh Park and Coburg Districts and might just about be ready to pounce once more after a convincing 5-0 start to the year.
Shanon Carroll will be hoping to have a more settled line-up through the middle portions of the year, as the Valley has already used 39 different players at senior level in their seven games.
They’ll be running into a Bears side that is just starting to lose its touch.
Covelli was held goalless by East Sunbury last week and with his recent drop in form, the Bears have suffered.
They haven’t won since early May and need to get a move on if finals are still on their minds.
Here is where the Bears need to make their move.
NORTHERN SAINTS v EAST SUNBURY
This is an absolute corker.
The Northern Saints have strung three wins together after going on a three-game losing streak from Rounds 3 to 6 and there still appears to be plenty of room for more improvement.
At their best, the Saints like to score.
But so far this year they haven’t been able to find that potency that’s held them in such good stead at times over recent years.
Rocky Ferraro and Khodr Taleb are pulling their weight in front of goal but the midfield brigade needs to come to the party, too.
The return of 2013 premiership ruckman Mahmoud Taleb, who was cleared from West Coburg last week, will help the Saints lift their output in midfield.
Against East Sunbury, that’s where the Saints need to be on-song this weekend.
The Thunder is right now at least two games clear of everyone else with a huge percentage of 160.94.
So why aren’t we taking them seriously as the flag favourite?
On form they’ll continue on their merry way and collect win number eight, but if they’re off against an improving Saints side on a small deck, then this looms as a massive danger game.
COBURG DISTRICTS v HADFIELD
If Coburg Districts doesn’t get its act together, Season 2018 is going to slip away fast.
After hinting that they were back with a win over Moonee Valley in Round 8, the Lions stunk it up at Lakeside Oval in the second half of last week’s clash against Roxburgh Park.
They conceded eight goals to the Magpies after half time and failed to put together a solid four-quarter effort.
It’s kind of been the story of their year to date, and had it not been for the odd lapse here or there, Coburg Districts could well be 5-3 and in the top four instead of 3-5 and at risk of missing the finals altogether.
Percentage is starting to play its role as well, so it’s important that the Lions not only take care of the Hawks… but do so well.
Unfortunately, Hadfield has become the easy-beat of the division, and sides are using their games against the Hawks to build percentage.
They were better last week against the Northern Saints, outscoring their local rival after quarter time to go down by 32 points.
But the fact Hadfield was scoreless in the first quarter shows just how far behind it is this season.
It was the Lions by 64 in Round 4 and it probably won’t be much different here.
