JONTY: Good morning team, another huge weekend of sport coming up with finals. Beaconsfield, Devon Meadows, Pearcedale, Pakenham and Longwarry all to play off in qualifying finals but before we look forward, we cast our minds back. Justin, kick us off with best action.
BEST ACTION
JUSTIN: My best action comes from a video I saw on Facebook. Ben Wratten from Powelltown played his last game of footy, five-time league best and fairest winner, two time premiership winner. He took a mark and kicked a goal after the siren and all the boys got around him. It was pretty good. What a way to go out – listen to this stat line…47 disposals, 13 marks, six tackles, 47 hitouts, two goals, 293 ranking points.
DAVE: Ohhhh.
BLAIR: That’s almost his average.
JUSTIN: ‘Wrattsy’, hats off to a great career.
JONTY: I wish he was from somewhere closer to Pakenham than Powelltown so we could follow it up a bit more.
DAVE: I had the privilege of watching him for the first time ever earlier this year and he was such a standout for that team. I fear for Powelltown without him.
BLAIR: My best action comes from Devon Meadows’ good win over Pearcedale. The Dales were up by 25 early in the third then Devon Meadows pegged it back a bit. It’s a different one…it’s a nearly best action. Nick Battle, we know he’s a star. Late in the third, the ball gets kicked inside 50 and he chases it down towards the right pocket, gathers and tries to wheel back on his left. Slips over right as he’s on the boundary line, loses his man, stands back up, runs and puts it through from the boundary line. The boundary umpire, though, blew his whistle; there were hands on heads everywhere so there was devastation from the fans.
JONTY: Have a sense of theatre!
BLAIR: Yeah, the young fella made a big call but it would have been an incredible goal because he slipped over and proceeded to stand up and snap it…but not to be.
JONTY: Devon Meadows aren’t making life easy for themselves are they? It feels like every week they’re winning by less than a goal.
JUSTIN: Well the comeback is huge because if they lose that, they miss finals.
JONTY: My best action…I’ll give you three small ones. One is the eruption of emotion at Holm Park when the PlayHQ updated and showed Mooroolbark had beaten Boronia, therefore guaranteeing Beaconsfield a qualifying final during a game they were losing which would otherwise have cost them the double chance. Also want to give a shoutout to Lachie Bambridge, who kicked three goals in the second half for Neerim to guide them over the top of Buln Buln which was all over the Cats early. And Toby Sinnema, a Melbourne Next Generation Academy AFL Draft prospect made his VFL debut for Casey and looked quite composed for the most part to finish with 15 disposals and a goal. Dave, give us yours!
DAVE: Talking about a team being behind and coming back, Noble Park’s season was on the brink of disaster in the second quarter on the weekend. They were playing Doncaster East and Josh Schache, a former AFL player had kicked four goals to halftime and was threatening to derail Noble Park’s season but the Bulls have a couple of ex AFL players of their own – Brad Crouch and Sam Gilbert both played on the weekend. It came down to the third last kick of the match. Josh Stern kicked an amazing goal. It was a stoppage, they were behind and he burst through stoppage with two blokes hanging off him and kicked a goal from 35 metres out under immense pressure. The ball gets thrown up in the middle, goes down the other end, a defensive mark is taken and the siren goes and Noble Park now looks like it will play finals after a really slow start to the season. Also, great to see Nar Nar Goon get tested by Tooradin on the weekend and Cora Lynn is getting players back, playing confidently and emerging as a serious threat. Lewis Hill was stiff with best action…he kicked a ripping goal for Tooradin.
LOCAL FOOTY HEALTH CHECK
JONTY: Our next topic of discussion is the health of our local footy competitions off the back of the contrasting competitions I cover. Berwick would be one of the best second-bottom teams anywhere in the state. A percentage of 80, just the four wins, but one of those over second on the table and pushed ladder-leading Blackburn all the way and lost by less than a kick on Saturday…one of three losses by that tight a margin. Meanwhile, in Ellinbank, you basically know the results before you rock up to the ground; it’s just a matter of how much a team will win by. Neerim South is undefeated, Longwarry’s only two losses to Neerim South, Trafalgar’s only four losses to Longwarry and Neerim South. At the other end of the table, Nyora, Bunyip and Poowong all have percentages of 44 or less so there have been some real blowouts. So on the back of that, I’m interested in how your competitions look, I’ll start with you Dave.
DAVE: What you’ve just explained is why divisional football needs to come in. Have a look at Eastern Premier and Eastern Division 1. You balance out the teams and end up with an even competition. I was actually going to suggest we do a silent ballot in Let’s Talk Sport this week and put forward ideas without accountability or our names going to it because that’s what clubs are doing when they vote on these sorts of things. They do everything secretly; you can vote no and don’t have to give a reason.
JONTY: So question without notice, but clearly you’d be in favour of Neerim South and potentially Buln Buln and Longwarry going into West Gippy and Dalyston, Korumburra-Bena and maybe Garfield dropping down to Ellinbank…
DAVE: And that’s what West Gippsland and Ellinbank need to do. With 23 clubs, you’ve got the core of a three-tier competition there. This time of year, three teams will win a premiership rather than two and that’s what it’s about, hope. At the moment in West Gippy, Nar Nar Goon, Tooradin-Dalmore, Cora Lynn, Phillip Island are in a class of their own, Dusties, Inverloch-Kongwak, Kilcunda-Bass are in their own little block, Garfield and Kooweerup, I can’t see them winning a flag in the next 5 to 10 years unless divisional footy comes in and then you’ve got Dalyston and Korumburra-Bena that would be a perfect matchup for Ellinbank clubs…I’m sick of banging on about it but it’s just ridiculous that clubs are having the final say. Divisional footy needs to happen across Ellinbank and West Gippy. I’m not going to betray confidences today, but there are some very disappointed people in positions of power who are biting their tongues right now to keep the clubs appeased.
JONTY: Self-interest rules all you think, Dave.
DAVE: One final thing, Jonty. A concerning thing for West Gippsland when you’re talking about the health of a league, Cora Lynn don’t have under-16s and a town that’s not far from Cora Lynn, Garfield, has forfeited three of their last four games in the under-16s so that particular little region is struggling in that key development area.
JONTY: Yeah, well it’s good to see Bunyip’s under-16s team thriving given the difficulty of their club in recent times, but on that note, Nyora doesn’t have juniors either and that’s a real concern because they’re an ageing list and I don’t think, without being disrespectful, that there’s a whole lot of appeal of playing for Nyora because they’ll never be in premiership contention and they’re a very small town. I have some fear about that football club’s future. Blair?
BLAIR: The health and competitiveness of my leagues has been pretty good. Southern Division 2 has had its closest competition in a long time. Eight of the 10 teams in the comp won eight games or more this year. And then you look across at Mornington Peninsula and Crib Point missed out for the second year in a row by just percentage and you love it coming down to the final home and away game which shapes finals. In Division 1 Southern, Dingley are your flag favourites, but in Division 1 MPFNL, Frankston Bombers, which looked unbeatable are no longer unbeatable.
JUSTIN: I think Dave made a really good point with Divisional footy because in Outer East, Premier Division is fantastic, all the teams are competitive and anyone can beat anyone on their day. Officer, in the bottom three, has had wins against Healesville, Mt Evelyn and Woori Yallock so they’ve been competitive. Even Gembrook Cockatoo lost by just two goals to Wandin on the weekend so I think the competitiveness in that league is really high but it’s now a two-tier competition rather than three tiers which it used to be. Since then, so across two full seasons, Powelltown has five wins, Yarra Junction two wins, Yarra Glen nine, and at the other end, Warburton-Millgrove 26, Seville 26. Seven of Warburton-Millgrove’s and Pakenham’s wins have been by 80 plus. You take away four games because they play each other twice and Seville twice so there is a clear gap between them and the rest of the competition. The competition has been dominated by three teams.
JONTY: It’s hard to turn around. What’s the lure of going to play for one of those teams that gets smashed every week or one of the clubs that is doing the smashing every week?
FINALS SHAPER
JONTY: Who from your competition is set to thrive under the pressure and heat of finals?
BLAIR: Not a local player but Somerville captain Mason De Wit. They’ve won 10 of their last 11 and he’s a barometer for the side, he’s kicked 30+ goals this year, he leads from the front, a lot of these games he’s getting 20 and three goals so he’s one they’ll look to as they hope to continue this incredible run. Don’t rule them out of going all the way in MPFNL Division 2.
JUSTIN: I’ve gone with Bailey Stiles – Cench Footy on Instagram talks about the Dusty club, people averaging 20 disposals and a goal for the season. Bailey Stiles is in that club. Every week when I give Juzzy Stanton a phone call, he mentions the midfield, the midfield, the midfield, that is where Pakenham wins its games because the forward line has a versatile range of goal kickers, three players have 30+ goals. The backline is young but it’s spearheaded by talented players that hold their own and have the fewest points conceded in the league so Bailey Stiles is the key to the midfield. He’s number 10 in the competition for ranking points despite not being up there in total disposals so he uses it well, he takes strong marks and could be the x-factor Pakenham needs.
DAVE: I’ll give you three x-factors and one defender. Nar Nar Goon has Harry Brain and his surname suits him because he’s a smart footballer. Billy Taylor from Phillip Island is an elusive half forward who can dominate 10-15 minutes and kick four goals. Cora Lynn has Jaxon Briggs who can get the ball out of the middle and off he goes. He’s an electrifying midfielder and his legs just seem to go quicker…it’s like watching fast forward on your TV. And for Tooradin, Rory Neate has kept Nathan Gardiner to two goals last week and Dermott Yawney to one goal this week. His arms are bigger than my legs. He’s a huge boy and matches both of those boys for strength. He’s a big component if Tooradin will win the flag.
JONTY: Very nice. I’ve gone for Will Battley, a Buln Buln midfielder who is one of their most important players. He’s almost more dangerous without the footy because he’s like a Venus flytrap, he closes in and tackles and does it very well and consistently. Coach Sam Batson praises him because there aren’t many players who build their game from their defence out but Will Battley is definitely one of them so that will be critical come finals. Good chat…let’s talk some more sport next week!
