Wounded, but far from underestimated.
Noble Park coach Steve Hughes won’t be short of his weekly worries this week when his side travels to Berwick, vividly remembering the almighty fright the Wickers gave the Bulls last season.
The Wickers set the tone in their inaugural EFNL clash, taking it right up to the Bulls in this exact fixture in 2021.
It hasn’t escaped the mind of Hughes, who tried to avoid the old cliché of ‘week by week’ with Balwyn and Rowville in the fortnight proceeding Berwick.
“Look after this week,” he said.
“We’ve just got to be really conscious of not looking too far ahead and it can be easy to do, but we’ve got an opponent this week – unsure if they’ll bring a few back – but they’ve been missing some real top end players.
“They may get a few back this week, they’re capable (of beating us), I know last year in round 1, I reckon it was under a goal out there.
“A lot of our players know their players, so they’ll be up for the game, we really want to concentrate on this week and then move on.
“We’ve got to look after this week and pay Berwick the respect they absolutely deserve.”
As for Berwick, the Wickers coach Clint Evans is not shying away from the midfield battle, where Jackson Sketcher tore his side apart in the early match this season.
“We have to compete and sustain effort,” he said of his message this week.
“The good thing from last weekend is we didn’t have any injuries and we might have a couple come back.
“We have to sustain our effort for as long as we can, we can’t let sides get a run on and kick six goals to kill the game – especially early on.
“We know their midfield… and pretty much all over the ground, they’re pretty good.
“We have to pressure and be more one on one, if you get Sketcher, Martin, Morrison and Glen down back they can zig-zag through the middle and kick goals very quickly.
“It’ll be more of a pressure, one-on-one game I would’ve thought.”
It’s been a difficult year for the Wickers and the Bulls are hitting their straps, expect Noble Park to come away comfortable victors here.
Tip: Noble Park by 53 points.
BERWICK v NOBLE PARK
Edwin Flack Reserve – 2:20pm
