A battle between the two undefeated sides of MC Labour Division 2 headlines an exciting weekend of action in the division.
Both Whittlesea and Diamond Creek will be looking to remain undefeated when they meet at the Whittlesea Showgrounds.
In a similar vein to 2024, the Eagles and Creekers have set the tone yet again in MC Labour Division 2 so far this year.
It’s Andrew Trainquili’s men who sit atop the table though with a much superior percentage of 334.39 compared to Whittlesea’s 153.29.
The Eagles have improved their form over the last couple of weeks, with their last two wins coming on the road against St Mary’s and Thomastown.
Against the Bears Thomas Falls continued his unbelievable start to the year. Vice-captain Mitchell Andrews also had his best game of the season (to date) alongside Lachlan Shinn-Mahony.
This weekend will be the third where they meet a 2024 finalist while it’ll be the second time for Diamond Creek they take on a finalist from last year.
The Creekers continued their irresistible start to the year against St Mary’s last weekend, keeping them to just eight scorings in their game at Coventry Oval.
Ruck-midfield duo Nicholas Barro and Tyler Barnes were both terrific alongside defender Joel Randall in the 45-point victory.
Diamond Creek have won their last two meetings against the Eagles. This includes their preliminary final matchup where the Creekers kept Whittlesea to 3.11 in a 93-point win at Epping.
However this time last year the Eagles gave Diamond Creek their first loss of 2024 at Saturday’s venue.
Two sides who enter this weekend in different form in Northcote Park and St Mary’s will meet at Bill Lawry Oval.
Anthony Palmer’s men have won their last four games and have only lost once so far this season while St Mary’s are winless over the last three weeks.
All four wins for Northcote Park have come against sides currently sitting inside the bottom four.
Their win against Watsonia last weekend saw Jacob Thompson kick seven goals and claim the perfect 10 Coaches MVP votes. Matt and Jordan Perry also starred in the 49-point win.
This weekends begins a tough five-game stretch for the Cougars where they face every side currently sitting in the top six.
St Mary’s are currently the lowest seed inside the top six having lost their last three games against the current top three of the division.
Nicholas Dean and Jake Halewood had solid outings in the Burra’s loss to Diamond Creek where they kicked a season-low 4.4.
Both meetings were split between the Cougars in Burra in 2024, with the average winning margin of those games being 13.5 points.
Two in form teams of Division 2 in Lower Plenty and Macleod are set to do battle at Montmorency Park South Oval.
Lower have won their last two games to move into fifth place, with their most recent win against Old Paradians seeing them concede only 20 points.
Riley Alexander kicked six goals and was one of the stars for the Bears alongside Jordan Sacco, in his 150th senior game, and Jasper Collins.
It’s set to be a big game for Lower Plenty who not only meet their fourth top six opponent of the season, but face Darcy Barden, someone who played more than 150 games and kicked more than 270 goals for the Bears.
Barden kicked two goals in the Roos fourth consecutive win of the season against Panton Hill at De Winton Park.
Mackenzie Hogg starred in the victory, kicking four goals and claiming the perfect 10 coaches votes for the first time this year.
The Bears and Roos last met in 2019 in Melbourne Greyhounds Division 1. Both meetings that year saw Macleod win by a combined margin of 33 points.
One of Thomastown and Watsonia will get their first points of season 2025 when they lock horns at Main Street Recreation Reserve.
Both the Bears and Saints are one of three winless sides in the division, with Thomastown the highest ranked of those sides based on percentage.
This season has seen some patches of promise from David Folino and Sash Spiroski’s men, however they’ve failed to put together four consistent quarters together yet.
Last weekend they kicked 5.15 in their loss to Whittlesea at home. It didn’t stop star duo Kyle Green and Youseph Dib from having an impact alongside Michael Tabacco.
They face a side that sits one spot below them in Watsonia who now have two winnable games on the road in the next fortnight.
Anthony McGregor’s side failed to pass the 50-point mark against last weekend against Northcote Park. However Thomas Jackson had his best performance in Watsonia colours in the loss.
Watsonia lost their two meetings against Thomastown in 2024. But, they fell 11 points short of the Bears at Saturday’s venue.
Panton Hill and Old Paradians are set to meet for the first time at A.E. Cracknell Reserve this weekend.
Simon Amore’s team have shown plenty of improvement this season despite holding a 2-3 record.
Last weekend against Macleod they led at stages and only trailed by eight points at three quarter time before eventually going down by 22 points away from home.
Oliver Parks and Tom Blake starred in that game, with Parks sitting third in the Coaches MVP Leaderboard and Blake so far kicking 12 goals this year, with 11 coming in the last three rounds.
They now meet an Old Paradians side who now go up against a side sitting outside the top five for the first time this year.
They registered 10 scoring shots but kicked only two goals last weekend against Lower Plenty at the Garvey Oval.
Billy Bedford was yet again a shining light for Old Paradians in the 64-point loss alongside captain Joel Tolli.
It’s the first ever meeting between the Redbacks and Raiders who are two of the last four sides to be promoted into Division 2.
