Three sides in Manly-Warringah, Western Suburbs and North Shore remain unbeaten heading into Round 5 of AFL Sydney Premier Division.
Two of these sides in Western Suburbs Magpies and North Shore Bombers will clash this weekend at Gore Hill Oval.
The Magpies have had an impressive start to the season under returning coach Kevin Eynaud. They look fitter and have been able to spread to good effect.
In their ANZAC Day clash, they defeated Balmain to the tune of 87 points. Levi Sands continued to press his case for representative selection with another top performance. Tim Lambert was named Best on Ground, which is just rewards to the dyed-in-the-wool Magpies veteran.
They have some flair with Chris Bolt and Rory Miller also impressive in the early stages of the season. These two kicked 11 between this last Thursday.
North Shore were most impressive last weekend in defeating defending premiers, UNSW/ES away from home at Village Green.
The Bombers led at every change, with Daniel Roberts impressive with six goals up forward. Douglas Hadden was also superb in tight spaces, while Sam Jackson won the ruck duel against Anthony Rodrigues.
St George would not be panicking yet but would want to improve on their current eighth place standing against another tough opponent in Pennant Hills.
The Dragons returned to Olds Park and celebrated in winning style against Illawarra. Although they won by 58 points, you wouldn't call it the most polished performance. Nick Ryan kicked eight goals but was inaccurate in the second half.
Patrick McBride also commanded the ruck duels and was well supported by veterans Stephen Wilsen and Michael Milner.
Pennant Hills returned to the winners list themselves against a disappointing Sydney University. The Demons' 83 point win sets them up well for this clash down south. The returning Matt Thomas is improving each week, while Alex Goodall and Matt Carey again turned in good performances.
UTS have been disappointing by their own admission, with only one win after four rounds. They will need to re-find their winning touch against a side higher up on the ladder in Sydney University.
The Bats turned on a good day for Ladies Day but couldn't replicate it on the pitch with a 14-point loss to the surprise packet, Manly-Warringah.
Michael Murrell and Lachlan Lamont were best for the Bats but coach, Daniel Lynch will be asking for more improvement across the board.
Sydney University were undefeated heading into Round 4 but they hit the skids against Pennant Hills. They were kept scoreless till during the second quarter and struggled to get any contuinity throughout.
Manly must be strongly favoured to continue their unbeaten run against the winless Sydney Hills Eagles. It will be take-two for the Wolves after their inaugural Premier Division game at Weldon Oval was rained out (match moved to Pennant Hills).
The Wolves were at their attacking best against UTS with William Brassil and fearless on-baller, Tyrone Armitage starring for Leigh Brain's side.
It doesn't get any easier for the struggling Eagles, who were soundly beaten by Campbelltown who were winless heading into that match.
Veterans Ryan Fitton and Damian Charleston try hard but the depth currently is not there for the Eagles to sustain a four-quarter effort.
At Village Green, normally a Grand Final replay would command the headlines. However, the Balmain Dockers are desperately out of form and will start strong underdogs to the Bulldogs who themselves are licking their wounds after last week.
The Dockers are suffering the same problems as the Eagles after the loss of some key names over the off-season. Joel Gray and Jerome Farrell were again best for the Dockers last week.
The Bulldogs suffered their first loss since the regular season last year, when they were out-worked by the Bombers.
They were hurt by injuries to key defender and playing coach Rhys McAlister (pec), Adam Gulden (finger) and Jeremy Kiel (hamstring- leading into the match).
The benefit of this is that it gives opportunities to the young up-and-comers, and regardless, they should be too strong again for the Dockers.
The final match is one that could go either way between Illawarra and Campbelltown at North Dalton Park on a cool Saturday night.
Illawarra were well held by St George last week, and will need to improve on their five goal haul. Jeremy Daniher also needs more support from his teammates.
Campbelltown after getting close in previous weeks got a much-needed confidence boost with their big win over the Eagles.
Mitchell Hogan has blossomed under Neil Brunton, and got able support from Taran Etto and captain, Matthew Edwins.
Last Modified on 02/05/2013 15:51
