MCDFNL - Round 13 Previews

With 4 Rounds to go, The competition is really starting to heat up as we take a look ahead for an action packed weekend in the MCDFNL. 

Senior Football

Avoca v Dunolly

Avoca host Dunolly at the Avoca Public Park this Saturday and the Bulldogs will be confident of posting their third win in succession as they are playing some very competitive football late in the season. The fact that the Eagles also went down to Lexton last round will also give hope to the Bulldogs who went down to the Eagles by thirty-five points the last time they met in round 16 of 2022.

Avoca has had the upper hand over the years in their contests with the Eagles winning fifty-two of their seventy-four games played and they will be hoping to add another win to the list this Saturday. This will most probably be the game of the round with a close contest expected. The Eagles will be aware that Jason Hunt and Zac Lubeek kicked seven goals apiece against Campbells Creek last round and will try to extinguish any chance they have of scoring on Saturday. The Bulldogs have probably lost a key defender for the remainder of the season after Logan Hayles suffered a nasty concussion in an accidental clash in the Royal Park game and his loss will be hard to replace.

Dunolly will be happy that Mitchell Goodwin has returned for the last couple of games after returning from injury and the Eagles do play better when he is in the team.

A great game is expected, and time will tell who the victor is.

Carisbrook v Navarre

As the finals draw closer, Carisbrook appear to be getting the band back together. Matt Bilton was cleared back to the Redbacks on the deadline and Lachlan Edwards made his first appearance on Saturday,

Both are quality players, and Bilton was instrumental in the Redbacks victory over Trentham, while Edwards was named amongst the better players against Talbot last round.

However, Carisbrook have a new generation of players coming through the ranks, such as Tom Gardam, Zak Rinaldi, Pat Van dep Pol, and Brandon Carter to name a few. These are all quality young players and when mixed

with the likes of Bilton, Edwards, Harry Butler, Ash Munari and Tony Zelencich, they are a force to be reckoned with. 

There have been some outstanding contests over the years between Navarre and Carisbrook and this game promises to be a competitive contest as both sides give their very best in the rivalry that has been formed since 2011.  

Navarre has lost four games to date and sit in fifth position while Carisbrook sit in second and have only lost one game for the season.  

The form line indicates that the Redbacks will be favoured to win, but you can never count the Grasshoppers out and it would not surprise if an upset was on the cards.

Trentham v Talbot

The Saints are definitely considered one of the premiership favourites as the home and away season draws closer to a finish.  With just four rounds to go, the Saints are eager to atone for last season when they finished on top of the ladder and were flag favourites in many people’s eyes but were knocked out at the preliminary final stage by Carisbrook.

The Saints will want to finish the last four rounds strongly and will have Talbot in their scope this week as they get ready for the final series ahead.  The battle in the middle between Joel Cowan and Trent Barass should be worth seeing as both players are in exceptional form, and neither will give an inch.  

The Hawks were expected to rise up the ladder this season but have not really met those expectations and based on form, Trentham should get the points. The Hawks and the Saints both have an exceptional reserves team with many of their team capable of playing senior football which would indicate plenty of depth for their senior teams.

In fact, the match of the round will most likely be in the Reserves game when both undefeated sides square off.

MALDON V ROYAL PARK

Maldon may be 5-7 and just outside the top eight but they are certainly playing like a team that deserves to be in the top eight. They’ll have the chance to prove it against Royal Park this week.

The Dons were very competitive for three quarters against Navarre, making the most of their chances in front of goal as they kicked 10 goals from 12 shots. But the Hoppers were able to find a way out to win by 31 points.

It continues a bit of a frustrating year for Maldon, who have been very competitive but just haven’t been able to find the extra gear to get wins against quality opposition.

Seb Greene again showed why he is one of the quality players of the competition with another sterling performance, while they got some much-needed goals out of Cody Gunn and Rhys Ford, who combined for seven majors last week.

This week, they come up against a Royal Park team that will also be looking to show that they have improved gradually since the start of the season.

While inaccuracy did play a part in last week’s game, the Tigers were around the mark with Natte Bealiba, trailing by 14 points at half time, before the Swans found their kicking boots and careered away to a 67-point win.

Jacob Rollason has continued his good form in front of goal, kicking two last week, while popular clubman Matt Walker played well in his 150th game.

LEXTON V ROVERS

There is a lot more intrigue in this fixture than one would have suggested pre-season.

Lexton have moved into the top seven in the competition thanks to their unbelievable win over Dunolly last week, one which saw them kick three goals in the last few minutes to snatch the win.

Now, they’ll be looking to cement their spot in the eight against a Rovers team who will be looking to keep their slim finals chances alive.

Rovers, for their part last week, played quite well against Harcourt, generating many scoring opportunities — all coming despite having just 21 players pre-game. Unfortunately, they will be kicking themselves that they could only score three goals from 16 scoring shots, but it shows with the right effort and application, they can compete with the best teams in the competition, which is a major positive.

In their last meeting in round 16 last year, Rovers led at half time, before Lexton went on to steady and win.

However, expect Rovers to be in the game for a lot longer this time around. They have been a much better outfit this season, with a two-week patch which saw them lose by 152 against Carisbrook and 234 against Trentham perhaps the only steps back.

With plenty to play for in regards to both teams, expect this to be one of the matches of the round.

NEWSTEAD V HARCOURT

Recent weeks have seen Newstead’s spot in the eight look a little bit shaky, and with the undefeated Harcourt coming to town, their task won’t get easier.

Although they were a competitive unit after half time against Trentham last week, it wasn’t enough to prevent them from losing by 58 points, which followed from their shock loss to Maryborough Rovers the week before.

There were some positives. Bradley Richardson kicked four goals to continue his recent good form, while Anthony Robins was another to play well, and should figure prominently in their best and fairest.

All of a sudden, the Kangaroos are two games inside the eight, and with Lexton, Dunolly and Maldon coming up against lower-ranked opposition this weekend, the Kangaroos will need to win, or their gap is reduced to one game.

Harcourt won’t be an easy task either. While they are far from full strength at the moment, the Lions continue to rack up the wins, and survived their own scare from Rovers in their return to the very place they won last year’s premiership.

The likes of captan Darby Semmens, Kaleb McBride and Kal Huntly continue to lead the way, while their many goalscoring options continue to pop up, with Bronson Martin and Kristian Bruce scoring three goals apiece last week.

NATTE BEALIBA V CAMPBELLS CREEK

Natte Bealiba will be looking to keep their spot in the top four when they host Campbells Creek.

While the Swans succeeded in taking back fourth spot off Navarre last week, the Swans will be kicking themselves that they could only manage 10 goals out of 36 scoring shots, with their 26 behinds the equal second-most of the season, tied with Harcourt’s effort against Avoca in round two and Rovers’ effort against Campbells Creek in round nine.

They will look to fix this against Campbells Creek this week, who unfortunately were unable to record a goal in their last start against Avoca, who had come into the game with just one win for the season.

Unfortunately, it has been a very tough year for Creek, with their most competitive performances coming with an 85-point loss to Royal Park and an 88-point loss to Maldon.

As the season has gone on, it has been more of a grind for the club, but the likes of Hadley Bassett and co-captain Max Stewart can hold their heads high for their performances throughout the season.

Going forward, Creek will be hoping for some competitive performances towards the back end of the season to give themselves some good reason for optimism of better times in 2024. After all, the likes of Maryborough Rovers have shown that they have been able to turn things around to become a finals contender.

A Grade Netball

MALDON V ROYAL PARK

Finals are out of the question for both Royal Park and Maldon, but both teams will be looking to finish the season strongly.

Royal Park have lost six games in a row, but that masks the true story in that they have been pretty competitive in a large majority of those games. Three defeats by 11 goals or fewer against Lexton, Harcourt and Dunolly — all top eight teams — is proof of that.

Unfortunately, they were left to rue a sluggish start last week against Natte Bealiba, in which they scored just two goals in the opening quarter. While the Tigers were reasonably competitive from that point onwards, it was not enough to prevent a 38-goal defeat.

They will now look to get back on the winners’ list against Maldon, who, it has to be said, are putting up a pretty impressive salvage mission after losing their opening 10 games.

Their win against Navarre last week has shaken up the top eight outlook, and with a win this weekend, they can move up to 10th on the ladder.

The Dons can very much prove to be a team that could shake up the outlook of the finals with their last month of the season including games against top eight aspirants Dunolly and Maryborough Rovers.

That, at least, can get them into a good platform to try and return to the finals in 2024.

CARISBROOK V NAVARRE

Four losses on the trot have seen Navarre slip out of the top eight, and their task just doesn’t get any easier this week when they travel to top team Carisbrook.

In essence, Navarre’s battle to make the top eight is almost exclusively with Harcourt now, sitting two games behind the likes of Rovers, Trentham and Dunolly in the middle reaches of the top eight, and with a game against the Saints still to come.

When all is said and done, the Hoppers could look to last week’s loss to Maldon as the one that might cost them an appearance in the finals, particularly given the Dons came into this game with just one win.

However, what the Hoppers do have over the Lions in that battle for eighth is a friendlier draw. So with that in mind, they will be hoping to have a competitive outing against Carisbrook this weekend, in order to gain confidence ahead of some must-win games in the back end of the season.

Carisbrook don’t give many teams the opportunity to be competitive though.

While Talbot did well to hang with the Redbacks for a quarter, Carisbrook made all the running from there, scoring 77 goals and winning by 53 in the end.

Laura Hurse’s power of work in the midcourt continues to give the best opportunities for Andrea Schafer and Paige McLean to score, which has been a common theme this season, and Elise Mottram and Sherriden Byrne have been the best defensive duo in the competition by the numbers.

AVOCA V DUNOLLY

Avoca remain just one game outside top spot, and with a healthy win over Campbells Creek last week, they will look to score another one against Dunolly.

The Bulldogs were certainly given a good contest against the Magpies last week, but their class shone through as they scored 25 goals in the last term, with Maddy Egan and Chantelle Wardlaw doing the damage in front of goal, while Keisha Tonzing defended well.

Dunolly will be a different test this week. Since round three, the Eagles have either won or have been super competitive in defeat.

They will have been disappointed with their start against Lexton last week, which saw them fall behind, but at the same time, they will have been thrilled with their second quarter, which saw them hit the front.

There’s no doubt that after finishing well outside the top eight last season, Ash Lierich has got the best out of her charges, with Samantha Cheetham and Zoe Aldridge proving to be a good goalscoring duo, while Serena Lafranchi has been a solid midcourter throughout the season.

Dunolly will be looking to ensure that they are as competitive as possible. While their finals spot isn’t completely secure, they are still a good chance of finishing the season in the top eight, irrespective of the fact that they have the top three teams in their run home.

LEXTON V ROVERS

It’s one of the most important days in Rovers closing chapter. Win, and they will be playing finals.

Standing in the way of a fairytale final season at the moment is Lexton — who also denied Rovers the chance to play finals in the final round last season.

So from that end, there is plenty to play for for Rovers, while Lexton will be looking to shore up their finals spot.

Rovers were incredibly impressive in dispatching Harcourt last week.

They made bulk changes to their formation, with regular goal scorer Tegan Maddern playing as goal keeper, and midcourter Charlotte Cain moving to goal defense. Nevertheless, Annalyse Carroll was the benficiary, scoring 45 goals, as the moved the ball with significant pace to trouble the Harcourt defense.

They will need to play with the same intent to defeat Lexton, who continue to move the ball with quite a surgical precision inside the goal circle, which allows the likes of Julie Parkin and Kimberley Roberts to dictate terms, with Rachel Phelan and Leesa Donhardt scoring at will.

The Tigers took two 24-goal victories over Rovers last season, and another will all but seal a top-four berth with three games to go.

NEWSTEAD V HARCOURT

Harcourt will be seeking a much-needed victory against Newstead to give themselves a chance to make the finals.

The game is of utmost importance for Harcourt — they finish the season with games against top four teams Lexton, Avoca and Natte Bealiba. And with just a one-game gap between themselves and ninth-placed Navarre, and keeping in mind Navarre play the undefeated Carisbrook this week, it’s such a crucial game for the Lions.

They were unable to stop Maryborough Rovers last week after half time, as they were able to run away with the game in the second half to eventually win by 23 goals.

The Lions will need to ensure they get on top of Newstead early on, just as Trentham did to the Kangaroos last week.

While the Kangaroos were quite competitive for the large part, in particular in the second and last quarters, they were left with far too much to do from their start, which accounted for half of the 26 goals they were defeated by in the end.

Both teams should have a good battle of scoring, with Harcourt’s Kate Blake and Newstead’s Verity Gartside getting plenty of opportunities to score last week. While Blake could only manage 22 goals from 49 shots, the fact that she is getting chances is a positive in itself.

TRENTHAM V TALBOT

With Rovers and Dunolly playing against top four teams this weekend, Trentham have a golden opportunity to move into the top five and secure their spot in the finals against Talbot.

A fast start by the Saints was all the ammunition they needed to control their game against Newstead last week, and scoring 69 goals was the perfect tonic after scoring 19 the week before against Carisbrook.

Central to the damage was Sharna Ford, who scored 41 goals in a devastating display.

They will now be looking to ensure they can produce similar results against the Hawks this week, who are now rooted to the bottom of the ladder.

Certainly, the Hawks have been more competitive in patches, and they performed quite well in the opening quarter last week against Carisbrook, before the Redbacks flexed their muscle and showed why they remain undefeated.

Nevertheless, it’s a good learning curve for a Hawks team that continue to get games into the younger players at the club, and Dom Roche has given them a reliable scoring option, adding another 16 goals last week.

Having negotiated a tough period which saw the Hawks play all four top four teams in a five-week period, their goal will now be to finish off the season strongly and launch towards 2024.

NATTE V CAMPBELLS CREEK

It may be a tough season for Campbells Creek, who currently sit in 13th, but there were most certainly some good signs last week, which they’ll look to take into this game against Natte Bealiba.

For the first three quarters, there were a lot of positives to take out, with Creek sitting just 11 goals behind Avoca. And while the second half showed how powerful the Bulldogs are, the Magpies certainly didn’t lose any friends.

Indeed, it was a good performance from the Creek midcourt to generate many scoring opportunities for both Lillie Wrigley and Jordan Bagley, who in all, had 70 shots.

They will be hoping to also match the result against the Swans last time, a game which saw them lose by 26 goals in what was a decent performance.

Natte Bealiba, however, will look to keep the pressure on Carisbrook this week as they look to continue their ruthless streak.

Against Royal Park, they were able to restrict the Tigers to just two goals in the opening quarter en route to a 38-goal victory.

Emma Ryan continued her incredible goalscoring run, scoring another 53 goals to take her season tally to 530 from 12 games, an average of 44 per game.

The Swans still have some important matches on their run into the finals, which includes games against top eight teams Dunolly, Rovers and Harcourt, so they will not be taking this week’s assignment lightly.