Montmorency and Greensborough will battle it out in Sunday’s Melbourne Greyhounds Division 1 preliminary final to determine who will earn their first senior men’s Grand Final appearance in over a decade.
It’s also been a decade since these two sides last met in a Division 1 final, where the Boro defeated the Magpies by 13 points in the qualifying final on their way to the 2014 premiership.
In fact, this is only the second meeting between these two clubs in a final since 1988, which is extraordinary considering at least one of these two teams have appeared in every top flight finals series since 2008.
The Magpies would appear to go into this clash as favourites, having defeated the Boro by an average of 25 points in their two meetings this season, but are coming off a five-goal display in their second semi-final loss to Heidelberg.
Their defeat came despite the return of star midfielder Nash Holmes and ruck Flynn Riley, the latter having not played since Round 8. Riley looks set to have a vital task on Greensborough tall Nathan Howard, who has been named in his side’s best in five of his last six matches.
Nick Rutley’s men have proven to be a very hard side to get a handle on when they get the game on their terms, highlighted in the qualifying final, where only accuracy prevented the Magpies winning by a greater margin than their 19-point victory over North Heidelberg.
Captain Stefan Uzelac will be a key player again this weekend, as he slots into his natural role of centre half back. Along with Billy Jenkin, who has been named in his side’s best in six of his previous seven games, Montmorency will look to remain strong defensively against a side who posted a triple figure total for the eighth time in 2024 last week.
Just as important however is the offence of the Magpies, who were kept to their lowest score of the season in last Saturday’s semi-final defeat.
Club leading goalkickers Ayhan Bajramov and Patrick Fitzgerald have combined for three goals in the last night fortnight of finals action, while Ben Paterson and Corey Sleep have combined for just four majors in the same period.
Already having to face a strong Boro defensive unit, Montmorency will need to find plenty of avenues to goal if they are to head to next week’s decider.
Greensborough put together their most impressive performance of the season in their 19-point semi-final triumph over North Heidelberg last week to play in a preliminary final for the first time since 2016.
It’s the young stars of Matthew Hyde’s men that are proving their worth in recent weeks, with Kirstian Ferronato arguably being the most in-form player of the competition after two outstanding finals matches.
The 19-year-old has been terrific in the middle alongside Tom O’Sullivan, but will need to be at their best again, to quell the influence of Magpies star duo Nash Holmes and Marcus Lentini, who can win matches off their own boots.
Greensborough conceded 14 goals on the weekend to the Bulldogs, which on paper seems like a lot, but when taken into account that their two leading goalkickers in Brock Chircop and Parker Heatley managed just one major each, it highlighted another excellent display from the likes of William McFawn and Angus Seivers.
With their lockdown defensive traits allowing Thomas Brindley and Jack Johnston to illustrate their run and carry and intercept games respectively, it’s no wonder the Boro have found themselves this far into the finals series.
There would also be plenty of history rewritten if the Boro were to get the job done on Sunday. Lalor are the last premiers to come from fifth place when they triumphed in the 2005 Division 2 Grand Final, but Greensborough would be the first ever fifth placed team to reach a top flight Grand Final in NFNL/DVFL history should they defeat Montmorency.
The Boro have won only two of their last six matches against the Magpies coming into this clash, and Montmorency would fancy their chances of making it a 3-0 record over their Sunday opponents.
But with their recent form and ‘nothing to lose’ attitude, Greensborough are every chance of another upset on their way to booking themselves a Grand Final berth.
