First round losers, Lancaster and Stanhope do battle in what is already a must win for these two clubs.
Neither can afford to go 0-2 given the lofty aspirations both have this year, with Lancaster seeking to play finals at a minimum and Stanhope keen to challenge the likes of Avenel, Nagambie and Murchison for this year’s title.
Both suffered vastly different defeats, with the new look Lancaster given a football lesson by a very settled
Nagambie team while Stanhope suffered a rare defeat on its home deck against premiership fancy Avenel.
Ben Schulz, Sam Spedding, Michael Orr, Jayden Mitchell, Beau Joyce and Jack Donnell were some of the four quarter contributors in the big loss to the Lakers.
Stanhope’s team was full of big game players last week but that didn’t help them when upstaged by the Swans.
Eric Edwards made a good return to Stanhope to sit alongside last year’s leading goalkicker Matt Forys while Jarrad Mason, Tanner Stokes, Michael Coad, Tim Somerville and Stuart Trevena were other players to shine for the Lions.
This is game will be won by the team who ensure their forwards get plenty of supply to kick a winning score.
I am leaning towards Stanhope to chalk up its first win.
THIS GAME WILL BE BROADCAST ON 98.5, so don’t forget to tune just after the one o’clock news today.
Girgarre kicks off its 2016 season with a short trip down the road to take Undera.
Todd Woodfine is in his second at the helm and expect his troops to enjoy natural improvement having played together for 12 months.
They have added some handy players to the squad, including Echuca United’s Ash Kirchhofer, Jake Hyland from Kyneton and Ash Hughes returns to the club from Queensland.
They have managed to also retain their best and fairest winner and leading goalkicker from last year in Ryan Jones.
Undera started its season with a big win over Ardmona.
Peter Cordy’s troops took until the last quarter to really click into gear with eight goals to eventually run out winners by 103 points.
They will find Girgarre a much tougher challenge and they will need to string together four consistent quarters to shake off the Kangaroos.
First round winners, Avenel and Violet Town clash in what should be a fantastic contest.
Both have very talented playing lists and high expectations of where their seasons could go in 2016.
Avenel produced one of its best wins for a long time when they travelled to Stanhope and came away with the four points.
The added responsibility and pressure of being the reigning league medallist and coaching obviously made no difference to the output of Donald Stirling.
He is a star and clearly proved that last year. He will be one of the players again vying for league honours came the end of the season.
His partner in crime – Michael Morgan was another to figure in the best players in the first up win while Trent Fallon, Micheal McKenzie, the returning Kasey Duncan and Anthony Dickinson were equally as good in the success at Stanhope.
For Violet Town, Robert Staff was outstanding to boot seven goals.
He was ably supported by Ryan Sutherland, coach Sean Horsburgh, Mathew Hadj, Alex Hall and Greg Dyer as last year’s finalists accounted for an improved Rushworth.
In the remaining three matches, the winless Merrigum and Rushworth do battle with the reigning premier keen to get on the board after a big loss to Murchison; Murchison take on the improved Longwood and
Tallygaroopna will be looking to make two wins in a row against Ardmona.
My tips: Tallygaroopna, Murchison, Merrigum, Avenel, Stanhope and Girgarre,
Last Modified on 04/04/2016 13:16