It’s here, can you feel it? Finals football. September is upon us and spring is in the air. Ankles are strapped and hammies are tight.
Northern Star Weekly sport reporters Daniel Paproth and Ewen McRae cast their eyes over the Northern Football League Division 1 finals which begin on Saturday.
Let us know which team you think has what it takes. Leave a comment below or hit us up on Twitter @StarWeeklySport or Facebook.
QUALIFYING FINAL
Greensborough vs Montmorency
Preston City Oval
Saturday, August 30, 2.10pm
Last time: Rd 10, Greensborough 16.20 (116) d Montmorency 13.11 (89)
These two rivals have produced plenty of brilliant clashes over the years, and Saturday’s qualifying final promises to be a ripping contest. Montmorency has more finals experience, having finished runner-up to Bundoora last year, and will be pleased that Tim Bongetti – who kicked 62 goals in 17 games before being suspended for a month – will not be playing. They indeed have pillars of strength in key areas of the ground, but Greensborough’s form is hard to deny, with an eight-point loss to Heidelberg its only hiccup in the past month.
KEY PLAYERS
Greensborough: Rhys Boyden has 16 goals in four games since returning from injury and 25 from his total eight games. Ruckman Michael Hooper has been virtually unstoppable all season.
Montmorency: Patrick Fitzgerald, Ryan Willits and Wayne Pavitt have 136 goals between them. Harley Ryan is one of the league’s best defenders while Jesse Donaldson and Ryan Jackson are sure to feature in league best-and-fairest polling.
WORD FROM THE CLUB
Greensborough coach Robert Hyde: “Everyone is excited, we’ve had a fairly positive year. The competition in the NFL is such that anyone who has made it to finals this year is a realistic chance to win it. We’ve beaten Montmorency before and the games we’ve lost we’ve been in them all the way through. They’ve got a couple of key on-ballers in Jackson and Donaldson and some huge mountains down the front. We need to win our share of the ball in the middle.”
Montmorency president Greg Bowman: “We put last year [grand final loss] behind us and we’re looking to continue our good form of recent weeks and take that into the finals series. We know our best is very competitive and that’s our challenge, to make sure that we produce that. Greensborough have got a very good crop of young players and an even spread of ability right across the ground, so we will need to respect that.”
ELIMINATION FINAL
Bundoora vs Macleod
Preston City Oval
Sunday, August 31, 2.10pm
Last time: Rd 16, Bundoora 13.10 (88) lt Macleod 14.10 (94)
This is the moment Macleod Football Club has been waiting for 43 years. Finally back in division one finals – after missing last year’s series by the slimmest of margins – the Roos will not exit without a fight. They beat Bundoora at home in round 16 but the Bulls, who scraped into the finals after injuries and poor form, have the potential to win the flag from fourth place, with firepower and experience all over the ground.
KEY PLAYERS
Bundoora: Former AFL players Gary Moorcroft and Cameron Cloke have 113 goals between them this season. Trent Barbero has won most of his battles down back this season. Star-studded midfield.
Macleod: Collingwood VFL player Cathal Corr has played 12 games for Macleod this season, having been named in the best nine times. Hamish Paynter has had a terrific year. Matthew Pow has seven goals in the past three weeks.
WORD FROM THE CLUB
Bundoora football manager Darryl Richards: “Last Saturday’s game (against Eltham) was the first time since round one we’d had all our premiership players on the park, bar one. We really haven’t earnt the respect because we haven’t been winning, but we believe we have the strength now and the power to work them over fairly aggressively. They are a fairly talented outfit with some great players in the core but we believe we can match them and we have the power up forward.”
Macleod president Damian Hurley: “We really think the club is continuing to improve. Our depth has improved with both seniors and reserves playing finals and we’re very much looking forward to the game. We’re confident we can play the bigger ground at Preston, it suits our style of football. We’ve got a lot of respect for Bundoora but we’re also confident that we can play at our best on Saturday.”
