Both teams are in season-best form and head into the Round 12 encounter on the back of four consecutive wins.
West Preston-Lakeside had to overcome indifferent form in the opening seven weeks of the season, but has since emerged as a serious premiership threat following wins over Bundoora, Eltham and a massive win at Macleod last week.
The Roosters were forced to come from behind in both their wins over the Bulls and Panthers and those fighting victories appear to have given the fourth-placed side great confidence moving into the second half of the year.
They trailed Eltham by as much as six goals early in the second term before triumphing by 28 points and then a week later overcame a 32-point deficit in the third quarter to claim a five-point win over the reigning premier.
Anthony Rocca booted five goals in last week’s 60-point win at De Winton Park and looms as a big danger for Montmorency, having kicked 19 goals in four appearances against the Magpies.
However, it has been the Roosters spread of goal kickers which has been most pleasing of late, with the side recording 11 individual goal scorers in last week’s victory.
Damien Smith leads the way with 21 goals for the season, ahead of Simon Close (20) and Rocca (17), while Billy Micevski has returned to form after a relatively quiet opening half of the season and has seven goals from the past three weeks.
Kris Bardon continues to accumulate and set up play through the middle and his prolific work puts him second in the Coaches Player of the Year award with 15 votes. He was superb in the win over Bundoora against a midfield deemed the best in the competition.
Down back, Simon Prestigiacomo has been at his measly best and has been named best afield two weeks in a row – managing to keep Cameron Cloke goalless in the Round 10 win.
Montmorency’s run and drive at the death of matches has been too much for its opponents to contend with this season and last week the trend continued.
The Magpies overcame a 26-point deficit early in the last quarter at Eltham and kicked eight of the final nine goals to claim a gripping 15-point win.
Dean Limbach kicked three final term goals after being well contained in the opening three quarters, while Kayne Pettifer booted five goals – his biggest haul since Round 2 when he also kicked five against the Panthers.
Remarkably, the Magpies have won 10 of their 11 fourth quarters in 2012, with the only loss coming against Northcote Park in Round 8.
Overall the Magpies have booted 50.37 to their opponents’ 27.23 in the final quarter, a clear sign they are able to work harder for longer than their competitors.
On five occasions they have kicked five goals or more in the last term, while in six matches they have kept their opponent to two goals or less.
After playing 14 games in his first season of senior football last year, James Brooker has continued to develop into a first-class midfielder and has played every game this year – including a near best afield effort last week.
Michael Steven and Daniel Keenan continue to win the hard ball in the middle of the ground, while Ryan Jackson and Ben Hayes have caused plenty of headaches for opposition coaches.
The sides have a competitive rivalry going, with the teams sharing the spoils in their four most recent encounters.
In the Round 3 twilight game, West Preston-Lakeside led by 26 points midway through the final quarter before Montmorency charged home to win by two points. Patrick Fitzgerald was the hero with seven majors.
With the sides both expected to advance deep into September this year, Sunday’s game should provide greater insight as to what should be expected in the 2012 finals series.
Past four meetings:
West Preston-Lakeside 2, Montmorency 2
Round 3, 2012: Montmorency 20.10 (130) def West Preston-Lakeside 19.14 (128)
Elimination Final, 2011: West Preston-Lakeside 19.14 (128) def Montmorency 10.6 (66)
Round 18, 2011: West Preston-Lakeside 18.8 (116) def by Montmorency 18.14 (122)
Round 9, 2011: Montmorency 14.9 (93) def by West Preston-Lakeside 20.7 (127)
