With the first four games of the MC Labour Division 2 season done and dusted, this weekend marks the opportunity for several teams to break away from the pack and stake their claim as an early contender.
In a battle of fourth and fifth, Northcote Park hosts Thomastown at Bill Lawry Oval with the two sides looking to keep their spots in the top five by week’s end.
The Cougars will be looking to redeem themselves after last week’s disappointing loss to St Mary’s in Round 4.
Northcote Park haven’t won by fewer than seven goals in their two victories this year, with an average winning margin of 44.5 points.
Their wins have come in part thanks to the dangerous forward duo Alexander Boyse and Damon Marcon, who have both combined for 18 goals already this season.
It’s also been due to the efforts of Michael Amad and Christopher Clark who have both been named in their side’s best in three of the first four games of the season.
Like the Cougars, Thomastown will also be out to also secure their third win of the season and coming off an 11-goal win over Watsonia, they’ll hope to repeat their efforts this weekend.
MC Labour Division 2 Coaches MVP Award leader Tyrone Leonardis has been a force in the middle for the Bears this season with the 26-year-old putting together arguably his best season since arriving at the club thus far.
One of the in-form players of the competition, he’ll be one the Cougars will be looking to keep quiet, alongside Lawrence Lopiccolo who has continued on from his Team of the Year season last year.
Thomastown’s defence has been solid, only conceding more than 10 goals once this year, but after a slow start, the Bears hit the 100-point mark for the first-time last week, something they’ll look to build on ahead of Saturday’s clash.
With these two sides expecting to be alive at the pointy end of the year, this match will be a good indicator of where each team sits approaching the first third of the season.
Still searching for their first win of the season, Lower Plenty will be hopeful they can pull off an upset when they take on St Mary’s at Montmorency Park South Oval.
Having lost by an average losing margin of 55.5 points across their opening four games, their best showing of the season coming last weekend when they went down to Panton Hill by 22-points.
In what has been an underwhelming start to the campaign, their young brigade of Felix Bell, Hudson Young and Joel Leslie have been the shining lights of the season, with the trio all impressing in patches.
Patrick Flynn also produced his best performance for 2023 last week with his ruck dominance something coach Phil Plunkett hopes will continue this year.
While the Bears will look to end a six-game losing streak, dating back to last year’s Qualifying Final, the Burra will be out to record their third win on the bounce after turning their slow start to the campaign around.
Joshua Carelli and Tane Cotter have been two Burra players in form coming into the fixture with the duo having been named in the best players on three occasions this season. They’ll be ones to look out for on Saturday alongside Huon MacGibbon who has produced an impressive fortnight.
Speaking of impressive fortnight’s, Nicholas Dean has kicked 11 majors in the last two games, but it’s been the Burra’s variety of goalkickers that has contributed to their form of late, with 16 individual goal kickers so far this season.
St Mary’s have yet to defeat Lower Plenty in three attempts, but they weren’t far off in those clashes. Their two fixtures last year resulted in 15 and 21-point wins for Lower Plenty, the Bears also won by 20 points in their only meeting in 2021.
However, with the Burra in ripping form and the Bears continuing to rebuild, Fabian Carelli’s men will see this game as a huge opportunity to claim another four points.
One of two undefeated teams remaining in the competition thus far in Eltham will prepare to continue their dominance when they tackle South Morang at Eltham Central Park.
The Panthers have been incredibly commanding in the first month of the season. They’ve won their four matches so far by an average of 75 points and clearly boast the most points for this year with 455 in total.
Tom Goodwin in the ruck, Daniel Horsfield in midfield and co-captain Jackson Weatherald across the half back have been some of the more consistent contributors for Tim Bongetti’s side in 2023.
Having lit up Division 2 last year, Daniel Owen has been hard at work again inside 50. He’s the current competition leading the goal kicking with 14 majors after a bag of seven goals against Epping last week, while he’s also having been named in the Panthers best players on three occasions.
The 20-year-old has now kicked 77 goals in just 25 games for the Panthers and will be one South Morang will need to keep close attention too if they’re to claim a win.
Stacked with talent, the Panthers will take some stopping, but South Morang will feel they can hold their own, despite defeat to Diamond Creek last week.
The last three Division 3 premiers average seven wins in their next season in Division 2 and with three from four already, the Lions have proven they belong in the competition.
South Morang’s recruits have had a strong say in their success so far. Lachlan Potter has 17 Coaches MVP Award votes (sitting equal third in the leaderboard) while Joshua D’Intinosante has kicked 12 goals to sit second in the competition goalkicking charts.
Their 2022 premiership stars have also been impressive, with Tye Hall leading the way after claiming spots in his side’s best for three consecutive weeks.
With both sides having some genuine game winners at their disposal, it should make for an intriguing fixture.
Watsonia and Epping will do battle in an important twilight fixture Binnak Park, as both teams look to return to the win column.
George Lattouf’s side having had a mixed bag start to the season. After a commanding start to the campaign with two huge wins, they’ve suffered two equally as large defeats in the last fortnight which included a 66-point loss to Thomastown.
Joshua Boulton and Harrison Sinclair have been impressive to start the campaign with the duo having been amongst the side’s most consistent performers and will be likely suspects to help guide their side to victory. Boulton particularly has again been superb in 2023, he’s currently equal third in the Coaches MVP Award voting and has been named in his side’s best in all three of his games this year.
They’ll need to find a way to get their scoring back on track however. Watsonia have posted scores of 11.11 and 5.10 in the previous two weeks after finishing the first two rounds as the only team with two 100+ point scores.
This week will be a good opportunity for those early season scores to come back into the fold, having defeated the Blues by an average of 103 points in their two clashes in 2022.
Epping looked to have become a more competitive side in the first couple of weeks of the season but have now suffered 94 and 114-point losses in the previous fortnight.
The Blues were missing their arguably two most consistent players of the season in Damon Hollow and Luke Lirosi during their loss to Eltham last week and will hope that both return to continue their solid form.
If Epping can make it hard work for the Saints in patches on Saturday, it will give them some confidence ahead of some more favourable games over the rest of May.
Unbeaten and sitting atop of the ladder, Diamond Creek will look to keep up their winning ways when they host Panton Hill at Coventry Oval.
Having taken the chocolates in both of their meetings last season, winning both games by a combined total of 111 points, the Creekers will fancy themselves as favourites again with their strong form thus far too hard to ignore.
The Creekers put on a show under Saturday night lights in Round 4, with an impressive 54-point triumph over the in-form South Morang.
Tyler Barnes hasn’t put a foot wrong this season, not only being named in his side’s best in three of four matches this season, but also having an influence up forward, kicking seven goals.
But he hasn’t been doing it all alone with the Creekers having a plethora of star performers. They’ve conceded just 113 points this year with Billy Bedford, Joel Randall and Nathan Searl proving a trio to get past for opposition forwards. Nicholas Barro’s ruck work has also been exceptional.
Their Saturday opponents in Panton Hill have taken a little longer to settle into the season, but an important 22-point victory over Lower Plenty last week is the perfect result heading into a game against such a quality side.
Since making his Redbacks debut in Round 2, Riley Livingstone has been brilliant both in the ruck and up forward. Tom Keys continues to be dominant around the ground as well as Nicholas Parks who has put together a handy opening four games.
After this week’s battle, the Redbacks face just one side who made finals in 2022 in their next four games, meaning a competitive performance against Diamond Creek will put them in good stead ahead of their attempts to finish the first half of the season strong.
