Line in the sand for Eagles, Giants
The Wimmera Football League finals hopes of Warrack Eagles are set to hinge on ‘Showdown Two’ when the Eagles take on Southern Mallee Giants at Hopetoun on Saturday.
The Eagles must keep winning to establish a foothold in the top five and that means beating their new neighborhood rivals.
But the Giants will be far from willing to surrender an edge they established over the Eagles in a ground-breaking opening round of the season.
The clubs are sure to have drawn a line in the sand, perhaps straight along the historic 1885 Vermin Fence, an unofficial boundary between the Wimmera and Mallee.
The Eagles are tenuously hovering in sixth place on the ladder and meet the Giants fresh from scoring a crushing win over Dimboola.
Following a strong showing over Horsham Saints after disaster against Stawell, the Eagles were in full flight against the Roos.
Goals flowed from the boots of Dalton Jaensch, six, coach Ryan Mckenzie and his assistant Shannon Argall, four each, and a variety of others including Nick Peters who would be in a leading group on Toohey Medal pace.
Whether a 172-point result is the right preparation for a potentially tough and intense nail-biter remains to be seen.
The third-placed Giants are also coming off a big win, proving 122 points better than Nhill, at Nhill.
Coach Coleman Schache, five-goal Josh Webster and four-goal Jackson Fisher led the way in a dominant display.
Results from earlier in the year show the Giants, in their first taste of Wimmera league after stepping up from Horsham District competition, beat the Eagles by 45 points.
But that was way back in April before so much footy water had gone under the bridge.
Mighty task
The Eagles must displace someone in the top five to play in the finals, and as it stands, the Giants, Horsham Saints and Minyip-murtoa are on their hit list.
The Saints are a game clear of fifthplaced Minyip-murtoa and the Eagles, but face the momentous task of toppling runaway competition leader Horsham. The Saints won a low-scoring arm-wrestle with Minyip-murtoa but might struggle to close down the Demons, who had a wake-up call against Stawell last week.
The Saints, while boasting plenty of slick runners and defensive leaders, are missing weapons in attack without its pathway teenagers who are trying to forge reputations in the TAC Cup.
Andrew Devereaux won best-player honours for the Saints last week and Michael Rowe, Xander Mcrae and Oliver Timms were also prominent.
Horsham’s narrow 18-point win over Stawell would have reminded the Demons of the fickle nature of the competition this year and should spur the team on against its Meadowbank rival.
Talent seems to ooze off the Demons’ list and last week it was Ben Lakin, Ryan Kemp, Brodie Mines and coach Deek Roberts who best responded to the Warriors challenge.
Spoiler
Stawell is shaping as a second-halfof-the-season spoiler and if it can give Horsham a hurry-up will certainly back itself against traditional rival Ararat for the Perc Bushby Cup at Stawell.
The Warriors have gone some way to finding their mojo in the past few weeks, and while all results have not gone their way, they are proving hard to beat.
Naish Mcroberts has been a protagonist in the surge alongside Jackson Dark and Cam Kimber and last week Brad Carnovale kicked four goals.
Second-placed Ararat is coming off a bye and cannot afford any lapses against a side with nothing to lose.
Minyip-murtoa, meanwhile, appears to be running short of a cylinder or two and its paltry three goals with a dry ball last week must surely have the alarm bells ringing.
In the loss to the Saints, it was Gus Trethowan, Callum Hobbs, John Delahunty and Pat Purcell who topped the best-player list.
The Burras face a struggling Dimboola and should win.
The Roos, with long-time troopers Darren Jones and Al Mckinnon and other such as Mitch Jorgensen and Darcy Barber flying the flag, will try to make the visitors work hard.