XBlades AFL Sydney Round 4 preview

By Michael Shillito

 

We’re into round 4, and the ladder is extremely tight. Already there’s no undefeated teams, and no team has lost more than two games. Every game is crucial, and there’s some big ones this week.

 

North Shore host UTS at Mortgage Choice Oval on Saturday afternoon. It’s Ladies Day, so there’ll be plenty of glamour off the field; and an important game on it.

The two sides met in the finals last year, in a game that was in the balance for three quarters before Wayd Blackburne tore the contest apart with four goals in the last term to get North Shore home. It’s a strong lineup for the Bombers this time, with more talent from their Under 19s premiership teams making their way into senior footy. They’re coming off the bye last week, so haven’t had much match practice lately; but they’ll be fresh and ready to go.

The Bats were impressive in their last start, downing East Coast at Kanebridge Oval. Justin Crameri made an instant impact with five goals on debut, and he’ll keep the Bomber defenders busy this time. It’s been a solid start to the season for the Bats; but this is a game they’ll have marked down to be fired up for after the way their season ended last year.

There probably won’t be much in this one. North Shore and UTS have a history of playing out close games; and with both sides harbouring ambitions to feature heavily in this year’s finals, the premiership points from this game will be crucial.

 

Sydney Uni host Manly at Sydney Uni No 1 Oval on Saturday afternoon, in a game that both teams will go into with winning form on the board.

The Students were impressive last week. Getting off to a flyer against the previously unbeaten UNSW-ES, the result already looked beyond doubt at quarter time and the Bulldogs were unable to peg them back. Will Stratford continued his rise with a Rising Star nomination, and he’ll be one to watch this time round. Sydney Uni’s side fluctuates each week depending on NEAFL selections, but there’s plenty of quality players in their Premier Division lineup at the moment.

Manly had a welcome return to form last week, getting the jump on St George which enabled the Wolves to take their first competition points for the season. It’s a welcome confidence boost, which they’ll be looking to build on this time round. Keep an eye on Jordan Weir and Connor Pettersson, who showed some signs of getting back to their best form last week. The Wolves will have worked hard on the training track this week with the aim of turning last week’s win into a momentum builder.

Sydney Uni games are always tough to pick because of NEAFL selections. But at home, with a strong and relatively injury-free club, the sun is shining and this is the time for them to be making hay. But the Wolves have the potential to strike a serious blow on the Students’ prospects.

 

Saturday afternoon will also see another crucial game as UNSW-ES take on Pennant Hills at Henson Park.

The Bulldogs went down to Sydney Uni last week, but that was only their first loss of the season. There’s some exciting young talent at the club, who have played in Under 19s grand finals; and the likes of Tom Banuelos and Jack Hardman are making the most of their opportunity at senior level. The Bulldogs are playing with spirit this year, and they’ll put up a real fight in this game.

Pennant Hills had their first win on ANZAC Day, and will be relieved to feel that their campaign is finally getting under way. But they’ll need to string some wins together, and this is the sort of game they need to win. The experienced hands of Ranga Ediriwickrama and Damian Dell’Aquila were critical in getting the Demons over the line last time, and they’ll be called into action again.

With only a short turnaround time between Tuesday and Saturday, the Demons’ stamina and fitness will be called on in the latter stages of the game; and the fresh legs of the Bulldogs will be coming home strongly if the game is still up for grabs in the last quarter.

 

The round will be completed with Premier Division’s first Sunday game of the year, with Wests playing host to East Coast Eagles at Picken Oval.

The Magpies are the only team yet to taste victory in 2017, but they’ve been close; holding third quarter leads in both their games to date. They didn’t quite have the legs to go the distance against Pennant Hills last week, but Ben Zoppo proved himself a handy target up forward; and the Magpies will again be looking for a big goal-scoring return from him this week.

East Coast will have been shocked by their loss to UTS last week, and will be determined to bounce back this time. They have goal-scoring options, with Mark Weekes making an impact with four goals last week. And there’s no shortage of midfield strength who were quiet last week but featured prominently in last year’s premiership; and they’ll be looking for this opportunity to bounce back to form.

This contest could go down to the wire. The stakes are high, and the loser risks falling behind the pack in the battle for ladder positions. In a congested ladder, every win is of the utmost importance; and the four points on offer here are worth their weight in gold.

 

It’s a massive week of footy, and by the end of the weekend we could see a very different looking ladder compared to what we see now.

St George have the bye this week, they’ll be resting up but keeping an eye on the competition to see how the ladder unfolds.

We’ll all be fascinated to see what happens and how the ladder takes shape. Enjoy the footy!!