Meadows Greyhounds Division 1 Preview – Round 6


Published on Thursday, May 25, 2017

Author : Samuel Zito

A number of sides will be looking to redeem themselves in Round 6 following a week of one-sided results.

After an exceptionally close opening month of the season, Round 5 proved to be a round of blowouts in Meadows Greyhounds Division 1.

There was an average margin of 63 points across the five matches – a huge jump on the 25-point average in matches from Round 1-4.

Top-four sides Macleod, Northcote Park, Bundoora and West Preston-Lakeside each reaffirmed their premiership credentials with percentage-boosting wins, while Heidelberg got its season back on track with its second victory of the year.

On paper Round 6 looks set to be a much more entertaining week of football, with the action headlined by two top-four clashes, while a number of arch-rivals meet for the first time this year.

West Preston-Lakeside hosts Bundoora at J.E Moore Park with a spot in the top-three the prize for the victor.

The Roosters made an emphatic return to the winners’ list last week with a 78-point win over Greensborough at J.E Moore Park.

The visitors led by four goals at quarter-time then stretched their lead at every break to record their biggest win since Round 9 last year.

The club’s former AFL contingent was instrumental in the win, with Andrew Walker and Mathew Stokes finding plenty of the football, while Ahmed Saad and Patrick Karnezis combined for 10 goals.

Rob Maiorana’s side can setup its season in the upcoming fortnight, with home matches against both the Bulls and Montmorency before the Queen’s Birthday weekend.

Should the Roosters score consecutive wins against current top-five sides they will be well on the way to locking in their first finals appearance since 2012.

Bundoora’s final term against Eltham had to be seen to be believed as it piled on 15 unanswered goals to win by 99 points at Eltham Central Park.

The Bulls had looked on the ropes at the final change, with their 32-point half-time lead cut to just six at the last break.

Nathan Thomas continued his outstanding return to the NFL, kicking three goals in a best afield display, while Dom Nixon backed up his strong showing at Montmorency to again be named among the Bulls’ best players.

The spread of goal kickers would also have impressed coach Ricky Dyson, with seven players kicking multiple goals – led by Todd Hughes’s five-goal haul.

The former Division 2 leading goal kicker has settled into life in the top flight well and sits equal-fourth on the goal kicking table with 15 majors.

Northcote Park will be on the hunt for its fifth-straight win when it travels to Montmorency Park to take on Montmorency.

The Cougars maintained second place on the ladder with a 52-point win over Hurstbridge at Bill Lawry Oval, although the win wasn’t as comfortable as the final winning margin would indicate.

The home side had to overcome a 17-point quarter-time deficit, which it managed to do by kicking 15 goals to five after the first break. Tall forwards Jackson Starcevich and Ash Close were lively in attack and combined for eight goals as their side broke the 100-point barrier for the third time this year.

Nick Carter continued his successful return from a knee injury and was crucial in keeping Northcote Park in the game during the first half, while Brock McLennan is returning to the form that saw him named in the 2013 Division 1 Team of the Year.

Montmorency will be looking to bounce back from its most disappointing showing of the season after proving no match for Heidelberg in last week’s 51-point loss at Warringal Park.

Despite not playing its best football, Montmorency was within four goals of its host at three-quarter-time before being put to the sword in the final quarter, managing just three scoring shots to Heidelberg’s 10.

Mark Deaves kicked three goals in his return, while Jackson Jones, Stephen McCallum and Billy Jenkin were the best in defeat.

The Magpies’ second-successive defeat saw it slip to fifth-place on the ladder, with the side at risk of falling out of the top-five for the first time this year should it not return to the winners’ list in Round 6.

Heidelberg is on the hunt for successive wins for the first time this season when it hosts struggling rival Greensborough.

The Tigers will be keen to reproduce the form they displayed last weekend, with the return of key trio Marcus Marigliani, Paul Bower and Tom Sullivan coinciding with their side putting together their best performance of the year.

After missing his side’s Round 4 loss to Hurstbridge, Marigliani continued from where he left off and was instrumental in setting his side up from the middle of the ground. He capped his performance with two goals.

Both Marigliani and Michael Brunelli benefitted from the ruck work of Jake McNamara, who has stepped up to fill the void left by Sam Gilmore in the opening six matches of the season and is proving to be a more than adequate replacement.

The form of Jordan Treloar will also buoy the Heidelberg faithful, with the premiership forward presenting well and finishing with two goals, after kicking four in his first game of the year in Round 4.

After four competitive losses, Greensborough slumped to its worst defeat of the year last week when it was thumped by 78 points by West Preston-Lakeside at War Memorial Park. The loss gave the Boro their worst start to the year in over a decade.

Last year’s preliminary finalists remain the only winless side in the top flight, with coach Robert Hyde conceding his side’s main aim for the remainder of the season is to avoid relegation.

The positive from last week’s defeat was the form of Billy Bedford and Michael Croxford, who again looked comfortable at senior level, while Ricky Mullins gave his all. Dan McLinden returned for his first game of the season and will be better for the run.

Eltham will need to show drastic improvement if it is to challenge unbeaten Macleod when the sides meet at Eltham Central Park.

The Panthers will be desperate to atone for their embarrassing final-quarter fadeout against Bundoora, where the Bulls’ final-quarter tally of 15.3 was greater than the final score of five of the ten teams in Meadows Greyhounds Division 1.

Making the fadeout all the more disappointing was it directly followed the Panthers’ best quarter of football since Round 1.

The Panthers moved the ball cleanly during the five-goal to one third quarter and looked every bit a winning chance when they trailed by just six points at the last change.

Macleod made a strong start at Whittlesea in Round 5 and led by 25 points at the first change. The ladder-leader then withstood a number of challenges from the Eagles before going on to win by 35 points – the smallest winning margin of the round.

Ned McKeown and Liam Brandt led the way in their side’s fifth-consecutive win, with strong support from Laurence Schubert and Shane Doherty.

Nick Lynch made a strong return from a short injury lay-off and finished with three goals, as did Cathal Corr and Patrick Martin – with the latter currently sitting equal-fourth on the goal kicking table with 15 goals.

In the final game of the round, Hurstbridge hosts Whittlesea in what looks an evenly-poised game at Ben Frilay Oval. It will be the pair’s first meeting since the Eagles prevailed in the 2015 Division 2 preliminary final.

It looms as a crunch game for two sides who are looking to keep in touch with the top-five, but also steer clear of the relegation mire at the bottom of the ladder.

Hurstbridge looked on track to cause another stunning upset early last week, before being outgunned by Northcote Park. Despite the defeat, it was another learning curve for Trevor Little’s emerging side.

The Bridges’ experienced players were their best in defeat, with Nick Milne, Sean Jellie and Jack Grimes all toiling hard against a strong Northcote Park side that included a number of the Cougars’ VFL group.

Having faced a tough initiation in the opening five weeks, the draw opens up slightly for the Bridges over the next month and they will be looking to put the experience gained against top-four sides into practice going forward.

Whittlesea gave a strong account of itself against Macleod last week, fighting back from an early deficit to remain within striking distance at three-quarter-time. However, the home side couldn’t contain the Roos in the final quarter.

Nathan Andrews played a standout game through defence and was the Eagles best player in his strongest game of the season, while Matthew Atta and Tom Falls again played to a high level.

Jim Atkins’ side has played its best football on the road this year and will look to keep its unbeaten away record intact as it aims to square the ledger at 3-3.

It looms as a big three weeks for the Eagles, with winnable games against Eltham and Greensborough to follow this week’s trip to Ben Frilay Oval.

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