GREENVALE v ABERFELDIE
🎥 Broadcast Game 📻
Saturday 2:15pm at Greenvale Recreation Reserve
LAST week gave us a glimpse of the best Greenvale can offer.
The Jets were scintillating on their home turf against Essendon Doutta Stars, booting six unanswered goals in the opening term to set up a comfortable 72-point win.
When they can get nine goals out of Jacob Thompson, Fabian Deluca and Fort Caruso, the Jets are very hard to beat.
Courtenay Dempsey was another welcome inclusion after missing Rounds 10 and 11 and with Nick Maric, Nat Caruso, Ryan Townsend and Josh Smith still to come back in as well, Greenvale does have plenty of upside as we approach September.
The question is whether they’ll have enough quality on the park here against their arch nemesis, Aberfeldie.
Luke Blackwell, Zach Hislop and Jorden Braddy all did not feature in Aberfeldie’s cruisy 42-point win over Avondale Heights last week, but we did see the EDFL’s best defender, Ryan Allan, play his first game since Round 6.
If it comes down to weight of numbers based on the respective sets of 22 each club fielded last week, then the edge still goes with Aberfeldie.
Their forward line is simply too potent, and the back line is the best in the league.
It’s an important game for Greenvale’s midfield, led by Caruso and Addam Maric.
Deluca will give the Jets the ruck advantage but unless the midfield makes the most if it and the forward line fires the way it did last week, it won’t mean much if big Fabian does indeed get on top.
Greenvale only wins if it again brings its best for long enough.
PASCOE VALE v STRATHMORE
Saturday 2:15pm at Raeburn Reserve
There are two ways to look at Strathmore’s recent form slump.
The first is to acknowledge some of the key players that have missed games of late, which last week included Shane Foulds, Luke Holian, Alex Grima, Luke Baniowski and Athan Tsialtas.
The other is to question whether Strathmore has enough experience within its squad to cover those losses.
Those above Strathmore on the ladder do bat deeper than their best 22 and that could ultimately be the difference between premiership contention and making up the numbers in this year’s flag race.
The Mores are struggling to score, most likely because most of the players missing games are forwards.
That’s going to be a big problem against a Pascoe Vale side that has Matthew Watson, Josh Cauchi, Jacob Polizzi and Daniel Archer all firing.
The Panthers weren’t shamed in last week’s nine-point home loss to Keilor.
Afterall, the Blues are undefeated for a reason.
Most of Pascoe Vale’s best 22 should be available here and if team selection does pan out that way, then Strathmore is going to be up against it.
GLENROY v AIRPORT WEST
Saturday 2:15pm at Sewell Reserve
It was one thing for Glenroy to beat Avondale Heights at home in Round 11, but to beat Strathmore as a visitor last week really left a mark on the competition.
It was the sort of game Glenroy would too often drop since gaining promotion into Strathmore Community Bank Premier Division, but Ross Terranova’s men held their nerve and survived a last-quarter Mores comeback to score a very important win.
Surprisingly, Glenroy’s sharp improvement in form has come without its best midfielder, Matt Walker, who is currently serving a suspension.
Luckily, the Roys have benefitted from the likes of Daniel Riley, Judd Brewster and Lachie Ronaldson all rising to the occasion and playing a good brand of footy.
Those wearing red and white will be full of confidence coming into this weekend’s grudge match with Airport West.
The Eagles are growing more desperate by the week and now cannot afford to deliver anymore poor performances.
A win here would draw the Eagles level with Avondale Heights (should Heights lose to Keilor) with both teams’ percentages within five per cent of each other.
If Damandeep Aujla, Anthony Aloi and Tyson Young all lead from the front, then Airport West will be in with a big chance of winning this game and keeping its season alive.
ESSENDON DOUTTA STARS v MARIBYRNONG PARK
Saturday 2:15pm at Nipper Jordan Oval
Before the season started, Maribyrnong Park was part of the relegation conversation.
Now the Lions find themselves in finals calculations.
Marby is now 6-6 after winning its fourth game in five weeks at Airport West last week and will enter this match-up against Douttas as a warm favourite.
The key to the Lions’ recent success is the versatility of its forward line.
Nine different Lions kicked goals at Airport West last week, including just one each to Jock Cornell, Brandon Ryan, James Breust and Panayioti Kokkinakis.
All those players are capable of kicking bags if the delivery coming in is good enough.
That’s why it is vital Essendon Doutta Stars wins the midfield battle here.
Last week the Stars fell well short of that at Greenvale and yet again, they couldn’t impact the scoreboard.
Airport West (twice) is the only team Douttas has posted a 100-plus score against this season and if they can’t improve on their average score of 62.4 points per game in the final six rounds, then they’ll struggle to add to their four wins for the year.
AVONDALE HEIGHTS v KEILOR
Saturday 2:15pm at Canning Reserve
Avondale Heights is another team that is struggling to kick goals, averaging only 61.4 points per game this year.
Last week with VFL-listed talent Hisham Kerbatieh and Hamish Murphy both sidelined through injury, the Heights kicked a season-low five goals at Aberfeldie.
Keilor’s back line might not have the same star power as Aberfeldie’s, but the Heights will again lose by a big margin if they can’t improve on that here.
They need to try their best to protect their percentage, as Airport West is only a game and 4.58 per cent behind with a winnable game against Glenroy coming up this weekend.
With a big enough loss to Keilor here, Avondale Heights could end up on the bottom of the ladder come 5pm on Saturday.
Keilor’s average winning margin against the bottom three sides is 70.5 points, which doesn’t bode well for the Heights.
Ten different Blues ended up on the goal kickers sheet at Pascoe Vale last week and that did not include three of their most in-form players in Kane Barbuto, Brett Stillman or Billy Iles.
Unless Keilor comes into this game severely off its game, it should pan out the way it’s expected to, with the Blues winning by 10-plus goals.
