Stanhope and Nagambie clash in arguably what is likely to be one of the games of the season already after two rounds of competition.
Both come into today’s contest off the back of very good wins in the season opener, with Nagambie skipping away after half time from Avenel in the grand final replay and Stanhope making light work of Murchison-Toolamba after quarter time.
Premiership coach Linc Sullivan is aware of how difficult the Lakers’ title defence will be given the start to the new season and he is just taking it week by week.
“We know how difficult the start to the year is for us, but we are just concentrating on the opponent we play each week. We know that it will be a battle of the midfields today and whoever can get on top will go a long to deciding who wins the match,” Sullivan said.
There were plenty of positives to take from the victory against the Swans, with not one passenger.
The defensive unit led by Jackson Hutton, Mark Nolen and Martin Shadbolt were outstanding while the midfield got silver service from debutant ruckman Alex Tattersall and up forward the Lakers were able to kick a winning score despite Harley Taylor-Lloyd not kicking a goal.
Stanhope had some outstanding performances from the returning Jack and Jayden Exell, Tom Durward collected plenty of possessions while Craig and Ryan Emmett while Nicholas Airs were all very good for the Lions.
Not much will separate these teams at the final siren and the team that can make the most of the opportunities will take the four points.
First round losers Merrigum and Murchison-Toolamba will go into battle desperate to rebound.
Both teams showed patches of good form during their first round losses.
Ethan Homewood, Tom Kerrins and Luke Armstrong up forward were some of the key contributors for the Grasshoppers while Geoff Connally, Christian Barnett, Rob Knowles and Daniel Clarke were the four quarter performers for the Bulldogs.
Longwood kicks off its new season with a trip to Undera.
The Lions had a big win over Ardmona to start the season thanks largely to 20 goals from Danni Heazlewood (13) and Tanner Hunter.
Redlegs’ coach Nick Brown will need to assign to good defenders to the task of keeping this two guys quiet if they want to start the season with a win.
Brown has been able to keep the core group of his playing list from last year along with adding 6-8 new faces.
It will be interesting to see how they gel and if they can kick a winning score.
Lancaster faces another test today when it welcomes Violet Town.
The Wombats touched up the Towners late in the season with their leg speed and Sean Horsburgh will be mindful of ensuring his boys can get their hands on the football to provide Rob Staff and the remainder of the forwards with plenty of opportunities to kick a winning score.
Lancaster goes into the contest without star midfielder Steve Thomson and Matt James, with the pair missing due to a private engagement.
Tallygaroopna will be looking to back-up its great start to the season when it travels to Girgarre.
The Roos were very competitive against Violet Town and coach Shannon Tucker will take plenty of positives into this contest.
Tucker knows he must put time into Tyson Sidebottom who starred in the win.
In a positive for Chris Earles was the number of players who kicked goals for Tallygaroopna.
Nine different players hit the scoreboard and that makes his team very hard to match up on.
In the remaining game of the round Rushworth takes on Ardmona.
The Tigers were soundly beaten on the opening day of the season, but there is no need to panic as the Jason Hucker-led team will only get better as the team plays more games to together.
Today, they will prove too strong for the Cats.
Tips: Nagambie, Murchison-Toolamba, Longwood, Violet Town, Tallygaroopna and Rushworth.
Last Modified on 05/04/2017 17:55