Teams start run to finals

Things will start heating up in round 12 of Mininera and District Football League this weekend.

Some clubs are starting their finals campaigns while others are still fighting for their spot in the top five.

Penshurst remains on top of the ladder with only one loss so far this season.

The top six also includes Wickliffe-lake Bolac, Tatyoon and Lismore-derrinallum, who we have seen consistently over the past few years.

But this year Great Western is a real contender sitting second for the first time since joining the competition, and Woorndoo-mortlake, sitting fifth, is

fighting for its first finals campaign in some years.

Woorndoo-mortlake takes on SMW Rovers this week. When they met in the first round it was the Tigers by nine-goals.

The Tigers’ last win before last weekend’s league bye came at the expense of Glenthompson-dunkeld, also to the tune of nine goals.

Jordon Buckley kicked six majors in the win, while Sam Gervasoni and Edward Gubbins did plenty around the ground.

SMW Rovers on the other hand have yet to beat a team above them on the ladder this season.

While finals seem out of reach for the Bulldogs, they will still look to get something out of the rest of the season to give themselves something to work on in the future. Rovers’ last game was a rough one in the wet against Penshurst, which saw them fail to kick a goal until the last quarter.

The backline had a workout and produced the shining lights in Dan Curran, Matthew Mulcahy and Brent Bulger in an otherwise dark day.

Lismore-derrinallum will host Great Western and try and reverse the result from the first round which saw the Demons fall to the Lions by three goals.

Lismore-derrinallum had a big win before the bye, defeating Hawkesdale-macarthur by 102 points.

James Boag kicked seven goals that day while Michael Lockyer added to the scoreboard with six of his own.

Both were in the best and along with Tyler Dittloff and Lochlan Douglas will be keen for another strong performance this week.

Great Western lost in the upset of the season last outing to Caramut.

In a terrible kicking display, the Lions managed only one goal from 21 attempts.

Jeremy Cronin, Ben Newson and Thomas Cairns all played well despite the loss and will be eager to get back on track this week leading up to finals.

In other games, Glenthompson-dunkeld take on Caramut, Ararat Eagles host Hawkesdale-macarthur, Penshurst will look to have an easy day out against Moyston-willaura, and Tatyoon will continue its fight for that fifth spot when it plays Wickliffe-lake Bolac.