MOONEE VALLEY v EAST SUNBURY
Saturday 2:15pm at Ormond Park
ROUND 4 delivered Moonee Valley the win it desperately needed.
The Fog was winless coming into last week’s away fixture at Jacana but wasn’t exactly poor during its 0-2 start to the season against Burnside Heights and the Northern Saints.
We’re still waiting for the return of skipper, Ned Wilson, from a knee reconstruction, but the Valley is enjoying a good start from stars Cory McGrath, Braden Padmore and Rocky Ferraro.
We’ve also seen Moonee Valley’s scoring power improve significantly, currently averaging 23 more points per game than last year.
To get the win here, Shanon Carroll will be keen to make sure his forward line fires yet again, because East Sunbury isn’t exactly potent in attack.
The Thunder has struggled to kick a winning score so far this year and only managed to post an 80-plus score for the first time last week against the battling Devils.
In what is a re-match of last year’s knock-out semi-final, won by the Thunder, both sides have a lot to play for in a season that is wide open in Strathmore Community Bank Division 2.
COBURG DISTRICTS v HADFIELD
Saturday 2:15pm at Cole Reserve
The Lions enjoyed a day off last Saturday and rumour has it the brains trust was taking a close look at Hadfield’s three-point home loss to the ladder-leading Sunbury Kangaroos.
Hadfield’s vast improvement in 2019 has come on the back of a strengthened overall structure that is putting together some very consistent footy and pushing each opponent it comes across.
The only thing we’re not seeing is wins, but those will surely come over time.
Zac Polizzi, Brandon McRedmond and Andrew Trende are among those Hawks playing good footy and that will, at a minimum, need to continue here at Cole Reserve.
Chris Tankard has had two weeks to think about what went wrong against Burnside Heights in Round 3 but prior to that, the Lions had shown they’re back to being the finals-calibre side that has been a Division 2 benchmark for several years now.
Their depth has stood out so far this year and the new forward combo of Matthew Vesnaver (11 goals) and Tom Gleeson (eight) is proving valuable as well.
Watch for Coburg Districts to produce its best four quarters of the year this weekend.
Hopefully the Hawks will be up for the fight.
SUNBURY KANGAROOS v KEILOR PARK
Saturday 2:15pm at Eric Boardman Reserve
Keilor Park produced its best performance of the year against East Sunbury last week.
The Devils kicked their best score and also allowed its fewest points-against total away to the Thunder, with the final margin falling below 100 points for the first time since re-joining Division 2.
For the second week running, Keilor Park is heading up the Calder toward Sunbury, this time for a date with the Kangaroos.
Sunbury wasn’t exactly setting the world on fire at Hadfield last week but still showed enough poise to claim a hard-fought win over the Hawks.
Usual suspects Josh Burgess (three goals), Michael Kilty (three) and Lachie Baddeley (one) got among the goals in a low-scoring affair while ruckman Brenton Sutherland is proving more than a handful for each opponent he plays against.
Unfortunately for the Devils, Sunbury will use this fixture to build some percentage, which is going to prove very important in the top four race.
