Saints, Swifts in crucial contest
East will take on west in a mighty showdown at North Park in Stawell this Saturday when Swifts and Edenhope-apsley grapple in an important Horsham District football encounter.
Swifts are unbeaten and sitting third on the ladder after three rounds while eighth-placed Edenhope-apsley needs to build on breakthrough success from last weekend.
Swifts continued their solid start to the season by beating Rupanyup by 25 points while Edenhope-apsley created an upset by scoring a comprehensive 32-point win over Natimuk United.
The Edenhope-apsley result at Apsley took many watchers by surprise and it was the likes of Jak Ryan, Bartley Nolan and Dale Smith who led the way. Wil Mcevoy, Damian Monaghan and Lachlan Middleton also won best-player mentions and Cam Domaschenz kicked four goals.
At the same time, Swifts hauled in a huge quarter-time deficit at Rupanyup to over-run the Panthers.
The Baggies were four goals behind at quarter time, 28 points at half time and 17 points at the last change.
But six last-term goals changed what appeared an inevitable outcome.
The Baggies listed Daniel Parkin as the primary player responsible for the fightback, alongside Matt Healy, Ryan Folkes and Corey Prydderch.
Rupanyup, an expected big improver this year, now needs to rekindle form against Noradjuha-quantong at Quantong.
The Panthers would be far from happy despite the efforts of Chris Parris, Matt Tyler, Trent Grant and Denny Musgrove and five-goal Campbell Matthews last week.
They need to win and will zero in on a Noradjuha-quantong side still soaking up the spoils from a 126-point victory over Pimpinio.
The Bombers will be flush with confidence after Jack Vague continued to lead the likes of Dustin Cross, Jackson Besford, six goals, and Sebastian Relouw. Wade Francis and Shane Oakley also kicked four goals each.
There is plenty up for grabs this weekend.
Laharum clash
Pimpinio copped it between the eyes and will now need to try to push against the flow when it takes on Laharum.
Adam Dumesny, Dylan Baker, Dylan Arnott and Angus Gilsenan flew the Tigers’ flag last week and now confront a Laharum side desperate for a win after disappointment against Jeparit-rainbow.
Laharum fell to the Storm by 33 points last week, falling off the pace as the game pushed into the second half.
The Demons would be happy to see Cam Streeter back influencing contests while Cooper Henson, Tom Crawford and Jed Mcconville captured attention.
But Laharum is so far winless and needs points and percentage.
At Natimuk meanwhile, district footy fans will get a better idea of where Natimuk United sits after it meets premiership favourite Harrow-balmoral.
The Rams kicked only eight goals last week and will need to quickly resolve any issues in attack to challenge the visiting Southern Roos.
Rams officials picked out Alex Ridsdale, Zach Smith and Garry Hallam as the team’s best last week, but there will need to be more players firing on Saturday.
Harrow-balmoral had its first major test last week, against a willing Kalkee, but ultimately proved too good for its rival and won by 19 points.
James Staude bagged six goals as Will Plush, Harrison Rees and Dalton Burns worked hard alongside three-goal coach Nick Pekin.
Kalkee would have taken plenty away from the contest and packed it away in the memory banks, but for the moment will need to prepare for a clash against Taylors Lake.
Joint coach Hamish Exell appears in early Dellar Medal form and with Ben Lawson, three goals, Harvey Gunn and Jayden Kuhne, will again be up for a big game.
Taylors Lake had a bye last week and although in the midst of a difficult rebuilding phase will want to challenge its opponents as much as possible.