Two rounds in and the reigning premier is under pressure already after two losses to Murchison and Rushworth.
It doesn’t get an easier for the Bulldogs who play host to one of the in-form teams in the competition in Avenel.
Christian Barnett will not be hitting the panic button just yet but he will be searching for a response from his players after suffering an upset defeat at the hands of the much improved Rushworth last week.
Rohan Hearn is one of the guys to have put his hand up along with Joshua Smith, Leigh Cuthbert, Jason Christou, Mark Lamborn and premiership ruckman Josh Stammers.
Barnett is still missing for another week while his brother Jonathon remains unavailable due to work commitments.
Avenel have made the perfect start under Donald Stirling.
They finished over the top of Violet Town in a fantastic game of football.
Kasey Duncan has fitted straight back into the Swans’ midfield after a year away at Seymour while Scott Tyers, Stirling, Cael McCarthy up forward, Micheal McKenzie and Nicholas Goodwin were the shining lights in the victory against the Towners.
Unfortunately for Christian Barnett, I think they will slip to 0-3 after today, with the Swans likely to prove too strong for the Bulldogs.
In the other cracking game of the round, Violet Town play host to Stanhope in what shapes as a big game for both clubs, even at this very early stage.
Brenton Gray knows his Lions’ need to play better than what they have done in the opening the two weeks.
They suffered a surprising home loss to Avenel to start the season and laboured to a less than convincing win against a new look Lancaster.
Boom recruits Blake Coyle and Tom Durward were the two shining lights while Jye Patten was also outstanding for the Lions.
If they are slightly off their game, the Lions will get beat by the Towners’ who boast some really good players in the likes of Ryan Sutherland, Robert Staff, Samuel Poole, Sean Horsburgh and Kobe Black.
The challenge for Violet Town will be stopping the supply getting to Eric Edwards and Matt Forys.
If they can do that then they will go a long way to taking the four points.
Girgarre started the season in style and Todd Woodfine would have been very pleased by what his troops dished up in the second half when the game was in the balance.
This games shapes as a test for both Girgarre and Tallygaroopna, but very much for very different reasons.
For Tallygaroopna this is a game that most probably expect them to win, and for Girgarre this might show how much they are going to improve in 2016 after winning only five games last year.
But without being disrespectful, both of Tallygaroopna’s opening two wins have been against two of last year’s bottom five.
The obvious key for Girgarre is to win the midfield battle to ensure Brett Arho doesn’t get the supply to kick another bag of goals.
He has 21 from the opening two weeks, but I get the feeling he won’t have it all his own way today.
New Girgarre recruits Jake Hyland and Ashley Kirchhofer both made good starts to their KDL career and expect them to get better with each game.
Timothy Karolidis has slotted back into the line-up like had never left while Russell Sheriff, Sean Arnold, Jayden Goodwin and Austin Tricarico played well during last week’s big win.
In other matches, Nagambie host Undera, Rushworth should make it two wins in a row when travelling to
Longwood and Murchison will remain unbeaten when taking on Ardmona.
My tips: Murchison, Nagambie, Rushworth, Tallygaroopna, Violet Town and Avenel.
Last Modified on 14/04/2016 10:45