With the home and away season concluding, the finals season is officially underway and AFL Darling Downs Media department look at each side competing in the McDonald's Cup finals.
Under 16 McDonald's Cup
Minor Premiers – Dalby Swans; 60pts – 264.41%
The perfect home and away season for this year’s McDonald’s Cup minor Premiers, with the Swans going through the season undefeated. Question is can they keep up the perfect run through the mysterious finals? Dalby are ranked both number 1 offensively (111.9 avg/game) and also ranked number 1 defensively (42.3% avg/game). They have been rarely tested this season and their narrowest loss was to South Toowoomba by 23-points, the Bombers showed a few of the Swans weaknesses but overall they are undefeated and will enjoy the first week of finals, refreshing.
Second – Coolaroo; 38pts – 157.26%
It has been a tight tussle between themselves in Warwick on who could finish in second and the Roo’s did bouncing into the seasons end with a superior percentage than that of the Reddies. The Roo’s are ranked accordingly for both key areas, attack and defence and have lost games to every finalist but also beaten everyone except the Swans. Coolaroo face Warwick first up in the Semi-Final with the winner progressing to the Qualifying Final against Dalby.
Third – Warwick Redbacks; 38pts – 110.39%
It has been a very consistent month leading into the McDonald’s Cup finals for the Reddies and other than Dalby are the form team of the competition. They have averaged 10-goal wins in their last 5-matches which includes wins over Lockyer Valley, Coolaroo and South Toowoomba who are also in the finals race. Interesting Semi-Final clash coming up against Coolaroo, in what should be an enthralling finals clash.
Fourth – South Toowoomba Bombers; 28pts – 101.6%
For the first half of the season the Bombers weren’t looking at contending this year’s final series but rallied together and put together impressive wins to sneak into the finals. The under the radar Bombers are no longer just making up the numbers and are a real premiership contender. Winning a flag from fourth is unlikely but again finals throw up many different hurdles and South Toowoomba has been able to jump them all thus far. They also have shown how to beat Dalby, even though they lost. Their first hurdle is the impressive Demons outfit in an Elimination Final.
Fifth – Lockyer Valley Demons; 24pts – 57.8%
Lockyer Valley have had a very inconsistent season and have snuck in on wins over Highfields (Rd 18) and University (Rd 14). The Demons aren’t expected to get past their Elimination Final against South Toowoomba but having the under-dogs status, most say is a good tag to have. Lockyer could be the unlikely smokey in the McDonald’s Cup and no doubt will have the entire Valley behind them.
PHOTO: Lockyer Valley Demons Facebook Page
Last Modified on 02/09/2013 08:51
