TALLYGAROOPNA v LANCASTER
After starting the season in a blaze of glory with a victory over its arch rival, Lancaster came back down to earth with a heavy loss to premiership fancy Violet Town.
There is no doubt there will be some feeling in this contest after Tallygaroopna knocked Lancaster out of last year’s finals series in the final home and away round.
Wombats’ coach Nick Bertoli is an extremely good leader and he will remind his players briefly of the disappointment caused by Tallygaroopna before focussing on the task at hand.
That task will be helped by the return of former league medallist Steve Thomson for this contest. His addition will be a welcome one and his battle with three time GVL premiership midfielder Tyson Sidebottom will be one worth watching.
Ben Schulz, Andrew Pettigrove, Tannar Cerrone, Logan Demasi and Michael Hill have been in good early season form for the Wombats while Rhys Colbeck, Austin Tricarico, Adam Serafini, Kane Handley and Tyler Pedretti have been the shining lights in the Redlegs’ unbeaten start to 2017.
Tip: Tallygaroopna
MERRIGUM v NAGAMBIE
Nagambie has claimed two big scalps to start its premiership defence and 2015 conqueror is its next challenge.
The Bulldogs bounced back in style against the Grasshoppers before the Easter break after suffering a disappointing loss to arch rival Lancaster to the start the new season.
In a real positive for new coach Mick Power was the number of players who got on the scoreboard along with the character, spirit and fight shown by the playing group after a terrible first quarter against the Grasshoppers.
James Sullivan, Jason Christou, Michael Donaldson, Daniel Clarke, Jake Parkinson and Jake Ross were the players who inspire the turnaround after quarter time to ensure a very comfortable win in the finish.
The Bulldogs will need 21 contributors to get close to a victory against a very good and disciplined Nagambie outfit.
Kyle Winter-Irving, Ben Hutton, Mark Nolan, Alex Tattersall, Michael Roberts and Martin Shadbolt have been some of the shining lights in the big wins to kick off the title defence.
The Lakers have also had many other contributors over the first two weeks of the season and expect them to continue their winning ways.
Tip: Nagambie
STANHOPE v AVENEL
Stanhope will go into this contest as the slight favourite and it will be eager to write the wrongs of losing to Avenel in last year’s preliminary final.
The Lions have made a good start to the year, with one win and a narrow loss to premiership favourite Nagambie before the Easter break.
Colin Harvey, James Fraser, Jack Exell, Thomas Hepburn, Jack Young and Craig Emmett were all very good in the team’s loss to the Lakers.
The Swans will no doubt be refreshed and ready to go after 20 days between their last game and this assignment.
It would have given the likes of Donald Stirling, Kasey Duncan and Scott Tyers plenty of time to recover from their injuries sustain in the season opener.
The Swans were extremely rusty against Nagambie and expect them to maybe take a few games to click into gear.
Tip: Stanhope.
VIOLET TOWN v MURCHISON-TOOLAMBA
Violet Town was ruthless in brushing aside Lancaster to remain unbeaten while Murchison-Toolamba has tasted defeat in both its matches.
Grasshoppers coach James Milne would have liked what he saw in the first quarter against Merrigum, but he would have been bitterly disappointed with what the boys dished up for the last three quarters.
He knows anything less than a four quarter effort against Violet Town will result in another big loss.
Violet Town has been well served by two its recruits in Tim Kirkman and Patrick Horsburgh.
Some of the team’s regulars from last in Samuel Poole, Ryan Jennings, John Woodcock and Sean Horsburgh have been leading by example while some of the shining lights for the visitors have included Tom Kerrins, Thomas Karascay, Luke Cecchin, Josh Lawrence and Hayden Ewart.
Tip: Violet Town.
LONGWOOD v RUSHWORTH
Longwood went within inches of recording a confidence boosting win to start to 2017 season only to suffer a heart-breaking loss to Undera.
The Redlegs’ led at every change against Undera thanks to the efforts of Dustin Baker, Jarrod Winzer, Russell Sheriff, Samuel Scott, Malcolm Hunter and Adam Molisak
Coach Nick Brown will know he will need to put time in to curbing the influence of Robert Osborne and Shayne Lynch, while others who starred in the big win last start included Daniel Webster, Dennis Saunders, Craig Turner and James House.
Tip: Rushworth.
Last Modified on 19/04/2017 16:25