The Qualifying Final will be played at Bellevue Oval in Armidale between the Nomads and the Saints. Both these teams finished on equal points at the end of the home and away season with only percentage separating them. The winner of this game will take on the Kangaroos at No.1 Oval in Tamworth in the second week of the finals. The winner of that game will be the first team into this year's Grand Final and will also win hosting rights. This game for those reasons is vitally important for both teams. The Nomads should have the advantage as it is their home ground but Bellevue holds no fears for the Saints as they have only lost there once in the last five years. The Nomads have not lost at home this year however and this includes three 100 point plus wins. Their last game there was a hard fought win over the Bulldogs and they struggled in the last game of round against Kangaroos in a game that was moved to Gunnedah because No.1 Oval was closed. That last game saw them held goalless in the first and third quarters. They were missing stars like Weston Whitby, Hamish Ross and Omphile Temoso and young gun Dave Richards was injured early in the game. Temoso has not played since their round 12 win against the Swans and will surely play this week. With just those 4 back into the team the Nomads already look a lot better and take them lightly at your peril. The Saints on the other hand have just got better the longer the year has gone and are peaking at the right time of the year. The Saints have only lost 1 of their last 8 games and that was a 8 point loss to the Kangaroos in Tamworth. They didn't have their best team on the paddock last week against the Bulldogs in Gunnedah and at half time the Bulldogs were 1 point up. The Saints got their act together in the third quarter of that game to do enough to win. They were missing Corey Borthwick, Joe Kimmince, Dave Vidovic and Joseph Byrnes. Of this 4 Kimmince, Vidovic and Byrnes all play in the backline and this will strengthen the Saints no end. Borthwick has moved more into the mid field this year and his return will be a big bonus too.
Prediction: This going to be a cracking game and is a flip of the coin type game. I will go for the Saints because they have been a little more consistent of late by 8 points in a very tight game.
The Elimination Final will be at Leitch Oval in Narrabri between the Eagles and the Bulldogs. This is the Eagles first ever time in the finals and they will be keen to show that they deserve their fourth place finish this year. There is not much between these two as the Eagles won the game in Gunnedah and the Bulldogs won the game in Narrabri earlier this year and both teams finished on equal points with only .52% separating them on the ladder. The Eagles look to have got back to their form from the start of the year over past couple of weeks with a 47 point win over the Cats last week and even though the margin was 40 points the week before against the Saints it did not show how well they played in spurts. With Gerry Griffiths Medallist Tim Cooper in fine form this year, especially at home, the Bulldogs John Woolaston will have his work cut out for him trying to close him down. The Bulldogs biggest problem all year has been their ability to get 22 to on the ground at the one time, let alone their best 22. This week will again see them struggle as more players will be out of town on family duties. The upside for them is that their joint Tony Gillies Medallist Paul Brown will be in the mid field directing traffic. Brown has had a very consistent season and the fact that he has won the Tony Gillies Medal will give him the confidence to take the next step up in his game and become even more dangerous for the Bulldogs. This game will take the western derby games to a new high and will be well worth watching to see the future of both clubs as they will continue to play more finals in the coming years.
Prediction: This will be a close game up until half time when I think the Eagles will start to get the upper hand and eventually win by 14 points.
Last Modified on 24/08/2011 10:25