Down to the wire
The west Wimmera football outpost of Apsley will provide the stage for a cut-throat end to Horsham District football’s home-and-away season on Saturday.
Crystal-ball predictions that a swinging sixth spot and a place in the finals would come down to a clash between Edenhopeapsley and Natimuk United have come true.
It means the competition finals will all but come a week early in the shape of an elimination game and chances are strong the visiting Rams will claim an 11th-hour place in the top six.
The equation is simple. As it stands, Edenhope-apsley is two points ahead of the Rams on the ladder in sixth place. If the Saints win they will be playing in an elimination final the following week. The same applies for the seventh-placed Rams.
Natimuk United will take winning form into the contest, having overcome arch rival Noradjuha-quantong last week, while Edenhope-apsley enters the game on the end of a heavy loss to Swifts.
United didn’t have it all its own way against the Bombers and had to pull out all stops to secure a 34-point win.
Importantly for the Rams, utility Jono Lovel continued his stretch of good form and Ash Pekin continued to get the ball.
Others to feature in the win were Hayden Fleay, three-goal Shaun Mcdonald and Josh Colbert.
Edenhope-apsley struggled to make any serious impression on the scoreboard against the Baggies, a final score of 4.5 less than ideal in the lead-up to finals.
Dale Smith, Jason Rae and Will Mcevoy led the way for the Saints but the home side will need commitment across all lines to enjoy success this weekend.
Some fans, fuelled by a belief the grandfinal will be played between Southern Mallee Giants and Harrow-balmoral, consider whatever happens in the next couple of weeks as academic.
The Giants play Kalkee at Hopetoun and it might be a case of watch out Kees, here comes Kain Robins.
Forward Robins collected 17 goals in the Giants’ monstrous win over Taylors Lake, taking his season tally to 102.
He had plenty of mates in the win – Haydn Drew kicked five goals of his own and Coleman Schache showed ominous touch.
Kalkee also had a big win, beating neighbour Pimpinio with Jasper Gunn leading the way with five goals and Brendan Hobbs and Luke Byrne in good form.
Third-placed Swifts would like to think they’re an outside chance for the flag, especially if conditions or circumstance fall their way, and will try to set their finals up in a clash against Rupanyup.
Ryan Folkes and Ben Taylor won accolades in the Baggies’ win over Edenhope-apsley and Andrew Cameron led the way in front of goal with five six-pointers.
Rupanyup was never going to be up to matching Harrow-balmoral last week, crashing by 151 points, but still had players such as Mark Tickner, Paul Trotter and Jordan May putting in hard.
Another established finalist, Jeparit-rainbow, had a much-needed boost to its endof-season preparations with a win over Laharum.
The Storm needed to arrest a slide in form and maintained an advantage at every change to secure a 22-point win.
The Storm will now ease its way into the finals with what should be a comfortable win over Pimpinio at Pimpinio.
Laharum needs a bounce-back win to set itself up for finals and faces a tough assignment against Noradjuhaquantong at Quantong.
Trent Woolman was mentioned in dispatches for his game for the Demons last week, as was Todd Heynen and Angus Martin.
Noradjuha-quantong, meanwhile, gave Natimuk United a head start last week but was highly competitive for the rest of the game. Cam Bruce again shone for the Bombers, marginally ahead of Jack Vague and Jason Kerr.
Harrow-balmoral will continue to prime itself for the finals with a big win over Taylors Lake.
Best players for the Southern Roos were many, but James Cleaver won the votes ahead of Will Plush and seven-goal Callum Hobbs. Taylors Lake will farewell a torrid season, although last week Trent Mcgough and Jake Hinton impressed against the flow.