Penshurst, Great Western to battle

The big dance has finally arrived with a much-anticipated match between Penshurst and Great Western in Mininera and District Football League.

Penshurst was the minor premier after the home-and-away season, however it was forced to make its way into the grand final with a win over Tatyoon last week after Great Western beat the Bombers in the second semi-final by four points.

The two teams only met once in the homeand-away season, with that game going Penshurst’s way by more than eight goals. However, it was the Lions who got their own back with a finals win over the Bombers to slingshot themselves straight into the ‘grannie’.

The Lions will be well rested after a week off, giving everyone a chance to rejuvenate and get over any little niggles to go into Saturday’s match at full strength.

Great Western will be tough to beat across the board, with plenty of quality footballers in every area.

Andrew Cameron, Nick Dunford and Lachie Malloy, with big ruckman Jeremy Cronin in the midfield, as well as a very strong forward line with multiple goal-scorers including Aaron Mckinnis, BJ Birch-burton and Sam Cocks, will put the side in good stead.

Steven Lorenzo has kicked 51 goals for the

season, Gerrard Cunningham has 72 of his own, and Cameron and Dunford have 77 goals between them, showing plenty of their players know where the big sticks are.

Penshurst will be no easy beat however. They made short work of Tatyoon in last week’s preliminary final, leading at every change.

Penshurst, with Justin Eales coaching from the sidelines, came out on top by 25 points.

Eales will be a massive inclusion this week after his skill, leadership and hardness earned him the 2019 Lewis Medal at Monday night’s league presentation dinner. It is the second time the Penshurst coach has been awarded the medal, also having multiple runner-up titles next to his name.

Adding him into the line-up with Tim Barton, Josh Gunning, Campbell Watt, Nathan Rentsch, Tyler Mckenry, Aaron Glare and goal-scorers Ben Hunt and Chris Eales, just to name a few, the Bombers boast plenty of onfield talent and presence of their own.

This is set to be a great game and could go either way. The game is scheduled to start at 2.15pm at Lake Bolac Recreation Reserve following a reserves match between Great Western and SMW Rovers and an under-16.5 game featuring Glenthompson-dunkeld and Hawkesdale-macarthur.

Good luck to all teams competing this weekend.