EAST SUNBURY v NORTHERN SAINTS
EAST Sunbury will be looking to exorcize some demons from its previous meeting with the Northern Saints.
It was a gloomy early June afternoon at Charles Mutton Reserve where the Thunder incurred numerous key injuries early in the game, restricting its rotations for most of the day against the division’s most deadly offensive team.
The final margin was 109 points and it was only their second loss for the year.
A short time later, Steve Grey stepped down as coach.
It seemed as though East Sunbury’s dream start to the season was about to unravel.
Their form expectedly took a turn for the worse as new coach Glenn Hopkins looked to steady the ship, and with back-to-back wins now on the board, now’s the time for East Sunbury to pounce.
This is the first of three consecutive home games and with a maiden finals appearance now on the line, so the Thunder must make a statement this weekend.
They have the firepower to match the Northern Saints but in such a high-pressure game, the Saints’ more experienced leaders will come to the fore.
It might be the biggest game in East Sunbury’s short EDFL history, so let’s see how the Thunder handles it.
MOONEE VALLEY v BURNSIDE HEIGHTS
*This game has been moved to Hansen Reserve, Airport West.
Strathmore Community Bank Division 2 is enjoying its best season since branching out of the old B-Grade competition in the middle of 2012.
The reason for that is we have expansion clubs such as Burnside Heights now putting together consistently good footy against the competition’s well-established teams.
For the neutrals, the Bears’ Round 10 radio game win over Moonee Valley was one of the highlights of the season.
And the fact it wasn’t just a blip on the radar is indicative that Burnside Heights has finally come of age and can enter these sorts of games with genuine hopes of a win.
But despite Josh Covelli returning to the top of the division’s goal kicking table with a lazy bag of eight last week, the Bears are still underdogs against Moonee Valley here.
The Fog had its third and final bye after close wins over Roxburgh Park and Coburg Districts and its four-game winning streak has probably gone under the radar.
Since that Round 10 loss, the Fog has been arguably the form team of the division.
The only potential obstacle could be the unfamiliar surrounds of Hansen Reserve, but luckily coach Shanon Carroll was Geoff Maddern’s right-hand man at Airport West 12 months ago.
He knows Hansen Reserve very well, and so will Cory McGrath.
HADFIELD v COBURG DISTRICTS
Hadfield has done well to earn some respect through the middle portions of the season and the Hawks are giving some opposition sides some headaches.
So for Coburg Districts, it would be very unwise to take the Hawks lightly this weekend.
Districts has been the most fascinating team in the entire EDFL this season.
After a grand final berth in 2017 and with stars on every line led by a highly-respected senior coach, we were all expecting the Lions to be the division’s benchmark this year.
But here we are in late July, scratching our heads as to how the Lions find themselves outside the top four.
Yet again they came close but failed to finish against Roxburgh Park last week, coughing up a commanding 28-point three-quarter time lead to go down by 17 at home.
It was the fifth winnable game the Lions have let slip this season, which is either just unlucky or indicative of a lack of finishing power late in games.
In their previous meetings, the Lions have taken their frustrations out on the Hawks and scored easy wins and while there’s a good chance of that happening again, those previous two wins didn’t exactly get the Lions’ season back on track.
They just have to get a W and reset for a make-or-break run home that includes games against Burnside Heights (home), Northern Saints (away) and East Sunbury (home).
