Tigers still in contest
Just how brave are the football punters out west in Wimmera Football League?
Are they willing to put a dollar on Nhill making this year’s finals despite the Tigers sitting two games off the pace and still coming to grips with a disastrously heavy lastgame loss to Warrack Eagles?
To the casual observer, with five home-and-away games remaining after this weekend, the Tigers appear gone for all money. The team, after all, has won only two of its 10 games, and while generally competitive, has struggled against benchmark opponents. A 78-point loss to the Eagles was also a major kick in the guts.
But are the Tigers well and truly gone as a finals prospect in 2017?
While the Davis Park faithful confront one of the toughest assignments in Wimmera football against premiership aspirant Horsham this Saturday, they have a tantalising draw to end the season.
If Nhill could somehow manage to upset Horsham at Horsham City Oval, the Tigers would be ideally placed to throw a spanner in the works, especially for fifth-placed Horsham Saints.
After Horsham, Nhill meets the Saints twice, bottom side Dimboola twice and also Ararat, which has a similar win-loss record this season.
Even after an expected loss to Horsham, the Tigers, much to the delight of the greatest of Hindmarsh optimists, will remain in the finals equation.
Safe
The Saints will of course be all too aware of the potential scenario that might unfold in the next fortnight.
They appear relatively safe in the top five, but have an unenviable assignment against a building Warrack Eagles at Warracknabeal on Saturday, before a key match against the Tigers next week, followed by a game against Ararat, which could go either way, and then a tough fortnight against Stawell and Minyip-murtoa.
The Saints, almost 90 points behind Minyip-murtoa last run, might find themselves in an early elimination final against the Tigers in the final round.
Ararat leaders would have also been doing their homework on potential scenarios, especially after a drought-breaking and comprehensive win against Dimboola before last week’s bye.
The Rats, despite only trailing Nhill by percentage, have a much tougher draw, taking on Minyip-murtoa at Minyip on Saturday before lining up against the Eagles twice and Stawell, as well as the Saints and Tigers.
While strategists from teams on the fringe of the top five scribble away at all the mathematical possibilities, unbeaten Minyip-murtoa is sitting pretty at the top of the table.
Interestingly, after 10 games, the Burras remain four points ahead of Horsham but with considerably less percentage.
A quick scan at points for and against reveals the Burras are the third-highest scoring team in the competition, behind the Demons and Eagles, but are also the most miserly.
Minyip-murtoa coach Damian Cameron stressed during the pre-season the Burras would adopt a more attacking style in 2017, but it seems negating habits remain and are also paying dividends. Horsham has scored 189 more points than the Burras, but also conceded 66 more, suggesting different formulas at work for the respective camps.
Third-placed Warrack Eagles, with a 7-3 win-loss record so far this season, has significantly less percentage than the leaders, reflecting the fortunes of a team trying to establish a winning edge by tacking risks.
Fourth-placed Stawell is further off the pace again, its 6-4 record suggesting under-achievement to date, considering optimistic speculation during the Warriors’ pre-season build-up.
What has been encouraging for Wimmera followers is a week-toweek sense that any team, regardless of ladder position, might be capable of causing an upset result.
That won’t happen this weekend as Minyip-murtoa scores a 37-point win over Ararat, Stawell finishes 26 points better than Dimboola, Horsham dashes Nhill’s initial hopes with a 31-point win and Warrack Eagles dispatch Horsham Saints by 19.