The Premier Division Finals will enter their first week of finals with Qualifying Finals to be played on Saturday (Henson Park) and Elimination Finals on Sunday (Blacktown International Sports Park).
Saturday: Qualifying Finals- Henson Park
Under 18 Division Two- Balmain vs Manly-Warringah @ 5.45pm
Balmain finished the regular season in second place with four losses to their name- one of those coming in the final round against Nor-West.
The 102-point loss was hardly the ideal preparation leading into this match. There is plenty of class in the side though with Luke Duignan a common name amongst Balmain’s best each week, as has Dekka Adams.
Manly-Warringah themselves haven’t had the best preparation after Saints a.f.c forfeited their final round clash. In the previous round, they had a strong hit-out against Southern Power and despite winning the final quarter- were never in the contest, going down by 49 points. They will need to hit the ground running in the evening timeslot through the likes of Mitchell Bell and James Behagg.
Premier Division- North Shore vs Pennant Hills @ 3.15pm
See Friday’s in-depth preview.
Womens- Balmain vs Sydney University @ 1.10pm
See the preview by re-visiting the AFL Sydney home (News) page.
Division One- Southern Power vs Holroyd-Parramatta @ 11.00am
Southern Power will start strong favourites given they have only lost three matches this season. One of those losses was a fortnight ago against competition front-runners, Manly-Warringah by 69 points. Phillip Hamer leads superbly from the front as a tough inside midfielder. They have found more polish in their unit this year with the addition of Daniel Turner and ruckman, Andrew Craig. Adam Cook has developed into a premier defender.
It shapes as a tough ask for Holroyd-Parramatta who will need drastic improvement from their last round shock loss to non-finalists UNSW/ES. They are a work-man-like unit that need to hit the scoreboard more regularly to challenge against the premier sides. Jake Brazill and Bryce Mayne are class players, while Andrew Munns marshals his defence well.
Under 18 Division One- Illawarra vs Sydney University @ 9.00am
Illawarra will start deserved favourites in the first match of the day. Their best is very good as they pushed the undefeated Sydney Hills Eagles to a draw earlier in the season. They have faced good hit-outs in the last two weeks against an improving St George (10 point win) and last year’s premiers St Ignatius Riverview (59 point win). Harrison Green and Harry Dobson are class players and will be hard to stop.
Conversely, Sydney University have been very disappointing in the last two weeks. Against the winless Penrith a seven-goal final quarter flattered them in the final result, while they were flogged by 100 points by a non-finals side in UNSW/ES. There are some class names in Sam Lonergan-Stewart, Spencer Krochmal and Alex O’Dea but they will need to pull it together against a well-drilled outfit come Saturday morning.
Sunday: Elimination Finals- Blacktown International Sports Park
Premier Division- Balmain vs St George @ 3.15pm
See Friday’s in-depth preview.
Division One- UTS vs Penrith @ 1.00pm
This match is a tough one to pick as both sides have had their moments of brilliance and mishaps this season.
UTS are coming off a heavy defeat to Manly-Warringah and will be keen to keep their season going for at least one more week given they are the Bats’ highest grade side remaining. Damon Collina kicked four goals in a losing side last week, while Fredrick Deegan and Luke Preston were impressive.
Penrith have had a bumpy season in their first year in Division One with a new coach taking over mid-season from Phil McGuinness but all in all they should be pleased with making the finals. Saying this, the key people in the club are aspirational and will expect the side to make it through to next week.
They should take encouragement from their performance from Southern Power despite going down by six goals. They trailed by five goals at quarter-time with their third-quarter most impressive whether they scored four goals to none. Jay Edwards is a premier rebound defender, while Dale Chivas adds the polish.
One thing is assured; a vocal crowd will be out in force on Sunday afternoon.
Under 18 Division One- Pennant Hills vs St George @ 11.00am
Not much separates these two sides heading into their Elimination Final clash. Pennant Hills have gone about their business well, only conceding four goals in the last fortnight (kept Western Suburbs goalless). The Demons have been a strong nursery of talent and they will be well served in the future by Jack Angel, Jesse Hare and Chris McKay- among others.
St George, as a club, have timed their run to perfection and should surprise a few teams this finals series. Their Under 18s are no exception but they will need to win all matches from here on in to claim the premiership. In saying that, St Ignatius Riverview achieved the exact same feat last year. They pushed Illawarra to within 10 points a fortnight ago, and should challenge the Demons with the likes of Mitchell Edwards, Ben Hodgson and Dean Gilbert all tasting Premier Division action this year.
Under 18 Division Two- Nor West vs Macquarie University @ 9.00am
Nor West have impressed many this year in their return to the Under 18 competition, especially in the previous two weeks where they have notched up an average winning margin of 99 points. They will want to bottle up their performance against Balmain last weekend where nine individual goalkickers helped themselves to the nineteen goal total. Sebastian Lorenz and Calum Moore are players to watch.
Macquarie University finished the regular season equal on wins with Nor West. Their last match was a fortnight ago given they had the bye the final round. In this match, they easily dispatched second last-placed Holroyd-Parramatta by 41 points. Oliver Jackson with five goals and a best on ground performance was impressive, as was Chris Mitchell.
Last Modified on 30/08/2012 14:15
