KEILOR v ABERFELDIE
🎥 Broadcast Game 📻
Saturday 2:15pm at Joe Brown Oval
THIS is the game all Strathmore Community Bank Premier Division pundits have been waiting for.
Both of last year’s grand finalists are undefeated so far this year and are on track to meet again at Windy Hill for the third time in four seasons on September 21 if they stay the course.
Keilor is the division’s highest-scoring team and Aberfeldie is the best defensive unit, so this will come down to who has more match-winners across the ground.
Dean Galea is in close to career-best form, averaging more than five goals a game in 2019 to date.
You would think Aberfeldie’s vaunted back six should be a good chance to quell Galea’s influence and, if they can, then for the first time this year, Galea’s support cast needs to step up inside forward 50 and kick goals.
The onus will fall onto David Gourdis and Matthew Clark to make sure they can provide the necessary cover if Galea is successfully kept quiet.
At the other end of the ground, Jayden Foster and Kyle Reimers are playing some very good footy of their own and enjoying quality delivery from their midfield.
Expect Mick McGuane to put a lot of time into Luke Blackwell, Josh Cubillo and Jaryd Cachia in order to stop Aberfeldie’s forward flow, as failure to do so will more than likely result in a loss.
Aberfeldie will enter the game closer to full-strength than Keilor, so the edge has to go their way.
MARIBYRNONG PARK v STRATHMORE
Saturday 2:15pm at Monk Oval
This might be Strathmore’s biggest game of the year to date.
The Mores find themselves in fifth place at 2-3 and percentage is now starting to widen the gap between the current top four and the bottom six.
If finals are Strathmore’s target, then it needs to win this game and win it well.
On the exposed form, Strathmore hasn’t been getting enough out of its forward line.
Its form players of the year have been Luke Jarrad, Nick O’Brien, Andrew Vavra and Xavier Allison, a quartet that doesn’t spend much time up forward and have only combined for eight goals in five games.
The likes of Alex Grima, Kyle Weightman, Athan Tsialtas and Josh Helliwell need to improve for goal-scoring output if Strathmore is going to enter the finals conversation.
Maribyrnong Park’s two wins have come against the division’s bottom two sides, which isn’t exactly a shock given the abundance of youth that Dean Laidley has on his list.
The Lions have struggled to kick winning scores because, more often than not, they’ve been outdone for size and experience in midfield and there is limited supply coming in for key forwards James Breust, Jock Cornell and Jordan Davey.
Davey was thrown down back against Pascoe Vale two weeks ago and with Cornell on the sidelines, Maribyrnong Park struggled to stay in it.
It seems pretty clear this is a re-building year for the Lions and while Laidley will be keen to see his side compete hard, there is simply more on the line here for Strathmore and the result should reflect that come Saturday.
AVONDALE HEIGHTS v ESSENDON DOUTTA STARS
Saturday 2:15pm at Canning Reserve
Here we have two clubs that need to show us more than they have in their first weeks of the season.
Avondale Heights was very disappointing against Strathmore last week, allowing the Mores to kick clear in the second quarter and claim an easy 41-point win.
In-game consistency remains an ongoing challenge for Donald McDonald’s men and if they can improve in that area, then we’ll start to see some more wins come their way.
The Heights could also do with a little more from the likes of Ciaran Sheehan and Josh Fedele, who surely have more to give after both had stellar seasons in 2018.
Here, the Heights will need all of their stars to stand up, as Essendon Doutta Stars is a dangerous team when it gets going.
But the Stars also tend to go missing for portions of games and Kyle Hardingham will be hopeful that is an area of Douttas’ game that can be cleaned up later in the year.
On exposed form, the Stars are getting good output from their top-enders, including Charles Lill, Jordan Schroder and Tom Wallis.
It’s now time for the second tier to play its part.
The key for both sides here is simple.
Whoever plays better for longer, wins the game.
GLENROY v PASCOE VALE
Saturday 2:15pm at Sewell Reserve
Pascoe Vale has been very good since going down to Greenvale in Round 1.
Its powerful and potent forward structure has stood tall when it’s mattered so far this year and the midfield has done a wonderful job of winning its fair share of ball and getting it to the likes of Matthew Watson and Daniel Archer.
If both Watson and Archer are not taking their marks then they’re bringing the ball to ground level, where Jacob Polizzi and Josh Cauchi have been able to hit the scoreboard and combined for 15 goals on the year to date.
The Panthers are third behind Keilor and Aberfeldie in scoring, well above Glenroy.
The Roys have been dogged by early season injuries and player unavailability and have not had the luxury of fielding a side that even resembles its best 22.
The week off may have come at an ideal time and hopefully the Roys can welcome some key players back into their line-up this week.
An undermanned Glenroy won’t be able to get the job done, so hopefully we see some significant inclusions when squads come out on Friday.
GREENVALE v AIRPORT WEST
Saturday 2:15pm at Greenvale Recreation Reserve
How do you go about stopping Greenvale when so many of its top-liners are in good form?
That’s the unenviable challenge Airport West coach Geoff Maddern is facing here.
All over the ground, the Jets have potential Team of the Year inductees playing consistently good footy.
Tom Cleary has been solid down back, Fabian Deluca has solidified his status as the division’s best ruckman, Nat Caruso gets his job done every time he plays and Jacob Thompson is important kicking goals.
Then you have Courtenay Dempsey, Ryan Townsend and the Maric brothers all looking to keep improving their individual games as well.
If the injury gods are kind to Greenvale, then Aberfeldie and Keilor better watch their backs later in the year.
It’s very hard to make a reasonable case for Airport West here.
The Eagles have been very patchy since returning to Premier Division and Maddern will be hoping their poor start to the season is the worst we’ll see of his side this season.
Lacking the quality to go with Greenvale’s abundance of playmakers, Airport West’s pressure game is the key.
The Eagles need to be willing to turn this into a dog fight and not allow Greenvale to roam free on the wide expanses of Section Road.
If they can keep it low-scoring, then perhaps the eagles are a small chance of pulling off an upset.
