The second half of the 2024 MC Labour Division 2 campaign commences this weekend, and following some shock results in Round 9, Saturday could present more opportunities for the same to occur as the bottom five teams take on the current top five sides.
An in-form South Morang outfit will look to make it three consecutive victories when they clash with Lower Plenty at Mill Park Lakes Recreation Reserve.
The Lions have been made to earn their wins in recent weeks but did pull off one of their best Division 2 triumphs in club history in Round 9, with a nine-point victory over Diamond Creek at Coventry Oval.
Captain Tye Hall has been outstanding during his side’s impressive patch, having been named in his side’s best in four straight matches. He also earned nine Coaches MVP award votes in the Creekers win to sit equal first on the Division 2 leaderboard.
Ben Muscat is another that deserves some recognition, with his efforts in the defensive half seeing him earn mentions in his side’s best in three of his last four matches, all coming against sides currently in the top five.
Gary Hall will hope the momentum his side has built will continue against a Lower Plenty team who will be determined to respond to their heavy Round 9 defeat.
They suffered their second biggest loss of the season after going down by 62 points to Panton Hill, however they are still just six points away from the top five.
Patrick Flynn will be looked upon again to lead his side after being named in his side’s best in four consecutive matches. His duel with South Morang’s Nathan Stefanile in ruck looms as a massive factor into how Saturday’s clash will play out.
Travis Stephens’ men will be up against it, having gone down to the Lions in their last three outings by an average losing margin of 99-points, including a 105-point loss in Round 1. But if they can show glimpses of their best, like we have seen already in 2024, a much more competitive performance will be in store.
Sitting just two points away from the top five, Panton Hill will hope to produce consecutive wins for the first time since 2023 when they take on Diamond Creek at A.E. Cracknell Reserve.
Simon Amore’s men have claimed victories in two of their last three matches, with their 62-point triumph over Lower Plenty a fortnight ago their biggest win of the season to date.
Three of their four wins in 2024 have come on their home deck, which will give the Redbacks even more confidence to cause an upset over Diamond Creek, just as they did in Round 5, 2023.
If they are to replicate their efforts this Saturday, the likes of Oliver and Sam Parks will need to maintain their terrific campaigns while Thomas Blake and Riley Livingstone will need to be on song against a usually resolute Creekers backline.
Last year’s premiers come into this clash somewhat vulnerable for the first time this year following back-to-back defeats.
After having not conceded eight or more goals to an opponent over the first six weeks of the year, they have now done so in their last three games, but following the league-wide break last week, Andrew Tranquilli’s men will have a fresh opportunity to turn things around.
Despite recent defeats, Diamond Creek are still getting great output from the likes of Danyon Kambouris and Ryan Pingree, with the latter booting five majors in his last two games.
Although they were on the receiving end of a shock loss in May last year, the Creekers have taken care of Panton Hill in meetings gone by, winning four of their last five fixtures by an average of 56 points.
The expectation would be for Diamond Creek to respond with a win on Saturday, but they will be weary of a Redbacks side who are making a charge for the finals in the second half of the season.
Thomastown have a golden chance to further distance themselves from the bottom five teams on the ladder when they host Northcote Park at Main Street Recreation Reserve.
The Bears have now recorded three wins in a row, and having started out of the gates shaky, the ship looks to have steadied for David Folino and Sash Spiroski’s side.
It was an impressive performance that saw Thomastown prevail by 12 points over St Mary’s at Whatmough Park in Round 9, with star recruit Youseph Dib again producing a terrific display to help his side get over the line. He has now been named in his side’s best in five straight matches.
Michael Tang also starred in the triumph with three goals and has kicked majors in all but two of his nine matches in 2024. He will be keen to continue his goalkicking ways this weekend.
Although still without a win to their name in 2024, the Cougars have been etching closer to breaking the drought with some promising performances throughout May, although they do come into this clash following a 59-point defeat to the ladder leaders in Whittlesea.
Star trio Christopher Clark, Jordan Perry and Daniel Tallariti stood tall without skipper Matthew Perry, and will remain as they key players to get Northcote Park back to winning ways.
Ricky Fandrich has also kicked majors in all eight games he has played this season and booted three goals against Thomastown when they last met back in Round 1.
The Bears went on to win that game by 21 points away from home, and if they are to secure the four points again this time around, they will produce a four-game winning streak for the first time since 2021.
Laurimar will face the challenge of causing the biggest upset of the 2024 season when do battle with Whittlesea at Laurimar Reserve.
An opportunity for the Power to pick up their second win of the year went begging in Round 9 as despite kicking four goals to one in the first term, they conceded six of the last eight majors of the match to go down by 14 points to Watsonia.
Joel Lawson remains a shining light for Jimmy Atkins’ men, kicking two of his side’s six goals in the defeat to the Saints.
He has now booted 24 majors for the season and has only been kept goalless once, all while sitting in equal third in the Coaches MVP award leaderboard.
Lawson has in fact kicked almost a third of his side’s goals in 2024, but with his team currently averaging the least number of total points per game, he will hope to have some more contributors in order to keep up with the second highest scoring side of the competition.
Whittlesea’s winning ways continued into Round 9 when an incredible nine-goal to one opening term paved the way for a comfortable 56-point victory over Northcote Park at home.
If they are to prevail again on Saturday, Garry Ramsay’s men will have won 10 consecutive matches for the first time since 2009, where they went 11 games unbeaten on their way to a Division 2 Grand Final appearance.
Taidgh Bland and Xavier Dimasi seem primed to continue their excellent campaigns in the midfield ahead of the second half of the regular season, while after a breakout four-goal, best on ground performance against the Cougars a fortnight ago, 19-year-old Khaled El Leissy looks to be a strong contributor for the ladder leaders both in the ruck and up forward.
St Mary’s will aim to stay in touch with the top three when they play Watsonia at Whatmough Park.
It’s been a tense month for the Burra, as despite going 3-1 in their last four matches, each game has been decided by less than 18 points, with two of those being by just one-point.
They do return from the bye off a loss however, as they fell short by 12 points to Thomastown at home.
With no Tane Cotter or Joseph Maggio, Lachlan Read finished as the side’s best in defeat, with John Desmond also performing admirably once again in what’s been a solid start to the season in new colours.
St Mary’s will also look to get back to their attacking best in the second half of the season, having failed to kick more than 10 goals in four of their last five games after kicking 10+ goals in three of four games to start the season.
They prepare to face a Watsonia outfit who have claimed six of a possible eight points in the last two games and are still well in contention to make a late finals push.
The two players who have arguably led the Saints on this mini unbeaten streak are Daniel Annetta and Ethan Lowe.
Annetta was named as his side’s best player in the victory over the Power and earned a perfect 10 Coaches MVP award votes to sit in equal third after nine matches.
Meanwhile Lowe has kicked nine majors in the last pair of games, and now has a comfortable 10-goal lead in the competition leading goalkicking charts.
The duo will be crucial for George Lattouf’s men this Saturday if they are to turn around their 21-point defeat to the Burra back in the opening round.
