What else have you got, Saints?
Horsham Saints have become legitimate wildcards for approaching Wimmera Football League finals. But just how close to or off the pace are the Saints to defending their premiership title?
That’s a question that will come close to being answered at Minyip on Saturday when the Saints hit the road to take on flag favourite Minyip-murtoa.
While many have developed a belief during the season that the Saints would maintain a place in the finals, few would have predicted they would have any serious impression on September action. But, after the Saints’ big head-turning victory over Stawell last week, fresh speculation has swept across the competition. Perhaps the Saints aren’t too far off the mark.
Horsham Saints not only beat Stawell last week, they won convincingly, an 8.4 to 0.2 opening term paving the way for a 72-point victory.
Of critical significance was the per- formance of coach Luke Fisher and the third appearance of forward Jacob Cooke-harrison with the Saints this season.
Ball-winning Fisher was best and Cooke-harrison kicked three goals, providing insight into an important depth factor in attack for the Saints.
Mitch Martin, five goals, and Jacob O’beirne, three, Oliver Timms, Andrew Devereaux, Xander Mcrae and Sam Clyne were good.
But this time around the Saints meet the Burras, who romped to a 20-goalplus victory over Dimboola.
Effort and willingness for the contest has never been an issue for the Saints, but their ability to match quality muscle and height appears a concern.
A quick scan of the Burras results last week shows lofty Jae Mcgrath, Brayden Ison and Matt Coleman kicking 17 goals between them.
But the Burras are just as slick as they are balanced across the lines, with Kade Petering, Oliver Young and reliable John Delahunty shining again and Sam Winfield performing strongly in the clinches.
Finals are different to home-andaway games so anything is possible, but tomorrow Minyip-murtoa will send the Saints back to the drawing board.
The Burras will win by 42 points.
With the Saints putting their hand up with a profound statement, where does it now leave Stawell? Needing to quickly find winning form, that’s what, and the Warriors will be up against it against Horsham at Central Park on Saturday.
Stawell, sitting fourth ahead of the Saints by percentage, is now breaking even with its win-loss record for the year. It must show something for its fans before the finals.
Horsham was up for the challenge against Warrack Eagles last week, breaking away with a big second term and then holding off the visitors to win by 43 points.
The cream is starting to rise to the top for the Demons and there are few
ACROSS THE LEAGUES Up against it
better running pairs in the league than Tyler Blake and Deek Roberts.
Simon Hobbs is also in the thick of the ball-winning action, while Ryan Kemp and Joel Geue are finishing off the work in front of the sticks.
Horsham should run all over the Warriors and win by 38 points, but much will come back to how well the home side can turn its form around.
Warrack Eagles will continue their finals preparation against an Ararat side more than capable of causing an upset. The Eagles’ loss to the Demons would have given team leaders plenty of homework to consider for the finals, but they can’t afford to look too far ahead. After impressing on the scoreboard for much of the season, 9.15 was far from enough to impress against a fellow finalist last week.
Jesse Murphy managed to bag four goals, while Kieran Ellis, Mal Douglas and Chris Kellett won votes.
The Eagles will want to bury the Rats but will confront a team that should be feeling good after scoring a 14-point win over Nhill. There is little denying that leading Rats Jake Robinson and Jack Ganley, best last week, are quality players and team leaders would have been encouraged by Ryan Bates’ four-goal haul and the six goals shared by Dan Mendes and Tom Mills.
The Eagles will work hard to record a 19-point win.
A clash between Nhill and Dimboola at Nhill’s Davis Park will round out the weekend fixtures.
Nhill’s season has been punctuated by missed opportunities, but there have been highlights such as the continued good form of Liam Albrecht and Billy Hayes and the goal-kicking ability of Callan Semple who bagged six in a loss last week.
Dimboola has had a tough year and everything the Roos now do will be aimed at next season. Last week, according to vote cards, Jayden Lehmann, Jayden Kuhne, Darcy Dubois and Ben Miller led the way for the Roos.
Nhill will win by 20 points.