Demons, Magpies showdown

Lismore-derrinallum has taken the hard road to get there but has finally secured a spot in the ‘big dance’ – Mininera and District Football League’s grand final.

The Demons will again take on Wickliffe-lake Bolac in the season finale on Saturday at Tatyoon.

The teams have met twice this year and are sitting at one win apiece, with the Demons 10-point victors in round 11, and the Magpies turning the tables to be 22-point winners in the first

ACROSS THE LEAGUES

Wimmera

qualifying final. After its finals loss, Lismore-derrinallum bounced back with a narrow win over Penshurst and most recently scored a 61-point preliminary final win over Moystonwillaura.

The Demons led from the first bounce in Saturday’s match and dominated all over the ground in the first half.

After the main break they put an end to any chance of a Pumas comeback with a seven-to-two-goal third quarter.

Michael Lockyer was again outstanding for the Demons, named best on ground and booting three goals, while team-mates Todd Lamont, Simon Cooper, Brad Lockyer and James Halloran also all played a massive part in the win.

Coach Jahn Knight will look to these players to step it up again for the final game and regain the team’s regularseason dominance.

This will be no easy feat, however, with Wickliffe-lake Bolac hitting its straps in the finals with two good wins over what were the two top teams.

Having the week off will have given the Magpies some valuable rest and gear them up to come out all guns blazing come Saturday.

The Magpies will still have last year’s grand-final defeat in their memory and will look to use that as extra motivation when they take the field this week.

Big-game players such as Brad Keilar, Bailey Veale, Tristan May, Harley Hunter and Luke Kenelley will all be ones to watch and I’m sure will have a massive impact throughout the day.

The league hosted the Lewis Medal count on Sunday where Micheal Lockyer took the honours over Justin Eales, an award he’ll be keen to back up with a premiership medallion.

In other matches, SMW Rovers will look to complete their undefeated season against Glenthompson-dunkeld in the reserves, while Penshurst and Hawkesdale-macarthur do battle for the silverware in the under-16.5s.

The senior game is scheduled for 2.30pm at the Tatyoon recreation reserve.