Former aligned sides Coburg and Richmond will look to start their climb from the bottom part of the ladder with a win in Round 9 Peter Jackson VFL action. James Szabo previews Round 9 VFL.
Richmond, who have registered just two wins from the season so far, went down to Essendon by four goals on the weekend in their fight for the Sir Doug Nicholls Cup.
Coburg also lost their last game against the Northern Blues in Round 7, after recording their first win of the season versus Essendon the previous week.
Lions coach Peter German says his side’s victory against the Bombers gives the team some added belief ahead of the clash with the Tigers.
“I think the fact that we played well against Essendon gives us some confidence,” said German.
“Obviously the win against them was important for us – due to the fact that we’d come close in pretty much all of our games so far this season, and then to get across the line.”
Five of Coburg’s six losses have been within 11 points or less, which is something German has highlighted as a positive this season.
The team’s improvement in winning contested ball and stoppages, as well as their competitiveness throughout most games this season, were some of the things he emphasised as an indicator that the club is headed in the right direction.
Those factors didn’t elude the mindset of opposition coach Craig McRae either, who says he’s expecting an extremely tough game Sunday.
“Absolutely – they’ve been really competitive,” said McRae.
“You look at their last home game – they beat Essendon, so we know it’s going to be a real contest.
“They haven’t lost by too much when they have lost. There’s been a couple of close games, so we’re certainly going in there knowing we’re going to get a strong contest.”
McRae, who started his coaching career at Richmond in 2007, returned to the club as head coach of the VFL side following roles at Brisbane and Collingwood.
He’s enjoying the experience and relishing the challenge of helping his young group of players become better every day.
While results haven’t gone the Tigers’ way so far this season – sitting 11th after losing five of seven games – internally the club is pleased with the progress and expecting results to fall their way.
German on the other hand, has been in charge of Coburg since 2014 – in their first year returning as a stand-alone VFL club.
While the ex-North Melbourne player wasn’t involved with Coburg during the alignment, he still says the club’s history has some significance on the fixture.
“We really enjoy the game against Richmond, probably due to the fact that we had that alignment for 10 years or so,” he said.
“It probably adds a bit more interest to it – because we know a fair bit about them…and they always felt like a bit of an older brother to the club.
“It certainly means a lot for the players who were around at that time and it gives them a chance to compete against players of a higher competition.”
The first bounce will be at 11.40AM at Piranha Park, with the match broadcast live on Channel 7.
In other games:
Coburg is one of two sides in the competition who have registered just one win so far – the other being North Ballarat who sit in last place due to percentage.
The Roosters have a chance to claim their second win against Box Hill away from home this Sunday afternoon, although it looks to be a tough task with the Hawks aiming to bounce back and keep fourth spot after losing their past two games to top eight teams Casey and Werribee.
The Scorpions will be out to prove why they are the ladder leaders nearing the half way mark of the season, when they do battle with Port Melbourne, while Williamstown will be out to stay within reach of top spot as they head to VU Whitten Oval to face Footscray, with Ed Carr and Nick Meese to play game 100 against the Bulldogs.
Werribee and Collingwood will play the only Saturday game over the round this week – live streamed via the VFL website - and Geelong and Sandringham go up against each other, after both recording big wins last time out.
Both Northern Blues and Frankston will be looking for their third win of the season in their clash at Ikon Park, while Essendon have the bye.
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Last Modified on 07/06/2016 09:14