It is the Northern half of Sydney dominating the season to date with North Shore and Manly-Warringah having unbeaten records heading into Round 6.
Manly will face their biggest trip to date to Campbelltown to take on the Blues. The Wolves had the week off last weekend and should be fresh heading into the match with Campbelltown taking on the ladder-leading North Shore Bombers.
Many pundits at the ground were not high in praise of the standard of the match with targets being missed at regular intervals. There is enough class in the Blues outfit to remedy this with Matt Edwins and Amua Parika being named in the Senior Representative Squad.
Manly have impressed many with their start to the season, and will need to keep the momentum up with many seasoned outfits snapping at their heels. Tyrone Armitage was rewarded for his early season form being named in the Senior train-on squad along with key position defender, Jack Lynch. Wils Brassil and Anthony Robertson (Development squad) will also be key to the result.
Pennant Hills will start favourites against the Illawarra Lions at Mike Kenny Oval.
The Demons have only won two out of their first five matches and sit outside the top five. This is a surprise with many tipping them to challenge for the title. They will improve and will be looking to start their run this weekend. Alex Goodall is hard at it in the middle with Matt Carey and Kieran Wright adding the polish.
Illawarra were desperate last weekend at home against Sydney University but lack the attacking flair to be able to trouble the top sides currently. They were eventually overrun after bravely fighting back to have a chance leading into the final quarter. Jeremy Daniher is their best player and was well supported by Josh Tier and David Goodley last Saturday night.
North Shore will look to keep their perfect record intact against UTS at Gore Hill Oval. The Bombers are even across the field with Doug Hadden and Sam Carruthers taking their game to a different level this season. Jared Shattock is a class player in the centre.
UTS have been somewhat disappointing to date. Daniel Lynch will no doubt have his troops prepared for this big clash. Andrew Davis and David Lavender are good users of the ball but the Bats will need more from their list if they are to upset the premiership favourites.
The AFL Sydney Match of the Week is staged this week at Bruce Purser Reserve between Sydney Hills Eagles and UNSW/ES.
The Eagles currently sit last winless but were improved in their last outing before the weekend off. A lot will be dependent on who will be required to play up in their NEAFL side.
UNSW/ES sit ominously in third place with plenty of improvement still in their list. Max Collett has been serviceable but players like himself will be asked to lift as the season goes on. A number of their players were justifiably named in the Senior and Development representative squads. Joshua Parmenter and Matt Rawlinson are two of these who would be close to leading their club Best and Fairest.
An intriguing battle will take place between Sydney University and Western Suburbs. The Students are battle-hardened after a physical encounter against Illawarra where they defeated the Lions by 33 points.
They fielded a number of third grade players but were too big and too classy for the Lions. Michael Higgins was superb in the clearances and even managed five goals himself. Kyle Underwood and Scott Snodgrass were also in the thick of the action.
Western Suburbs have lost the last two after a winning start to the season. Last week they would be disappointed how they fell away against St George- only managing three second-half goals. Yannick Milligan-Saville and Levi Sands were best for the Magpies.
There will be one game on Sunday between Balmain and St George at Henson Park. These two outfits have played out some entertaining fixtures in recent history with Balmain knocking the Dragons out of the finals race last year.
Balmain were much-improved in their last outing against UNSW/ES, and were unlucky not to go on and register a win. Selby Lee-Steere would’ve picked up all six votes if it was possible such was his dominance in the ruck and around the ground. Wayd Blackburn and Matt Round added a lot of run and impetus for the Dockers.
They face another stern test to build on their one win for the season against the Dragons who have claimed two scalps in as many rounds. They are moulding well under Terry Mudge with Ben Sharp and the evergreen Patrick McBride best in their five-goal win over Wests.
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Last Modified on 16/05/2013 15:16
