KEILOR v PASCOE VALE
Saturday 2:15pm at Keilor Reserve
THE pick of the three games on offer this weekend will be at Joe Brown Oval between the Blues and Panthers.
Both sides are coming off strong wins in Round 2 and should be in finals contention come the pointy end of the home-and-away season.
Keilor is on top of the Strathmore Community Bank Premier Division ladder after managing to break clear from Strathmore on Good Friday and again showed why it is a force to be reckoned with in front of a big Lebanon Reserve crowd.
Dean Galea got the better of Daniel Mighell and booted five in the 17-point win while David Gourdis’ aerial presence across half back earned him best-on honours.
Add to that the strong form of wingman Nick O’Kearney and skipper Kane Barbuto and you can easily see why the Blues have been so hot to start 2019.
But this weekend they’ll be coming up against a Pascoe Vale outfit that showed plenty of promise in its last start against Essendon Doutta Stars.
The Panthers largely had things their own way against the Stars and nine different players got among the goal kickers in the cruisy 43-point win.
Josh Cauchi, Ben Allan and Liam Ogden have all added some seriously good quality to this line-up, while Daniel Archer has had a good impact both up forward and in ruck so far this season.
If enough of Pascoe Vale’s star power fires then Keilor is in for a tough day in its first home game of the season, but the Blues have more than enough talent of their own to get the job done as well.
MARIBYRNONG PARK v AIRPORT WEST
Saturday 2:15pm at Monk Oval
There may only be one win between Maribyrnong Park and Airport West but both clubs have shown some good signs, so expect a good contest here at Monk Oval.
Lions coach Dean Laidley would be fairly pleased with his side’s 1-1 start to the season, given the tumultuous summer the club suffered on the player transfers front.
After beating Avondale Heights in Rounds 1, Marby surprisingly led Greenvale by 14 going into the final change at Section Road in Round 2, only to fall away badly in the final term, conceding six goals to one.
Jock Cornell is equal-second on the Premier Division goal kicking leaderboard with seven majors to his name and the support cast of James Breust and Ethan Baker have played some good footy to start the season as well.
Challenging Greenvale at Section Road for three quarters was a positive sign, but Laidley will surely be demanding a four-quarter effort against the Eagles here.
Airport West provided a much-improved showing against Aberfeldie and if the Eagles can replicate more of that, then they will score some good wins later in the year.
Daman Aujla has been a solid recruit for Airport West in the absence of Bior Malual and Clayton Rogers’ strong presence inside forward 50 will allow Tyson Young to move up the ground as required for portions of games.
Geoff Maddern has done well to acquire some depth in his squad, but we need more of a sample size to determine exactly how much talent there really is within the group.
This looms as the Eagles’ most winnable game of their first three, but the Lions remain the favourite here.
ESSENDON DOUTTA STARS v GREENVALE
Broadcast Game
Saturday 2:15pm at Nipper Jordan Oval
This match-up gave us a memorable final-round game late last year.
The Stars ensured survival from relegation by defeating the premiership-contending Jets, with Patrick Willach, Brandon Sarich and Marcus Calvaresi all starring in the 28-point win.
As a result, Greenvale lost its shot at a double-chance and ended up in the elimination final the following week, where the Jets had their season ended by Strathmore to the tune of 40 points.
That would have left Greenvale with a sting in its tail and expect Paul Chapman’s men to be fired up and ready to make amends here.
Two solid wins over Pascoe Vale and Maribyrnong Park have Greenvale in a strong position heading into Round 3 and with most of their best 22 on-hand, the Jets should be feeling good heading into this one.
Douttas had a big letdown in Round 2 away to Pascoe Vale.
Going from scoring 18 goals in Round 1 to only eight the following week will give Kyle Hardingham a little bit to think about given the Jets haven’t been able to post a 100-plus score so far.
The new-look forward line, led by Alex Boyse, needs to fire and the midfield needs to win its fair share of ball out of the middle in order to restrict Greenvale’s flow throughout the day.
We know Greenvale is good at generating goals out of the middle, so the onus is on Douttas’ defensive midfielders to win their individual battles if they’re going to be any chance of pulling off an upset on Saturday.
