Tullamarine v Oak Park
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TULLAMARINE was outplayed and outsmarted at every turn last week against Craigieburn. The Demons found it hard to work the ball into their forward 50, therefore limiting scoring opportunities.
The next day Oak Park defeated Westmeadows in the Elimination Final. It was Oak Park’s most impressive display for the year, winning by 91 points. The game was pretty even in the first half, before Oak Park clicked into the next gear in the second, kicking 15 goals to three.
In this Sunday’s Preliminary Final, both teams travel to Coburg City Oval for the last spot in the Essendon Ford Division 1 Grand Final.
Tullamarine will go into this game as favourite, as they have defeated Oak Park in their previous two encounters this season. Oak Park has also struggled against Craigieburn and Hillside this season, only making progress against Westmeadows.
The Demons have the targets up forward and they’ll take advantage of that against the Kangaroos. Key forward William Becker will be the main target in this area, playing out of the goal square and pushing out on the lead.
As for Oak Park, they’ll need to get through a pretty sturdy Tullamarine defensive line. This could be done bypassing the half forward line, which the Demons usually have a good hold on – most probably going over the top.
This game will be won in the midfield. It will be a question of the number of inside 50s each team gets, because both teams have capable forwards that know what they are doing.
Becker for Tullamarine and Dean Clare for the Kangaroos are these key forwards. Clare will push forward more and will also look to drive the ball into other options in the Oak Park forward line. This should hopefully result in more space inside the forward 50 and more options to kick to.
Oak Park will find some run and space, but Tullamarine will do it more effectively.
