General News
23 August, 2024
LV qualifying final: Spotting danger points
YOU COULD hardly find two sides more equally matched than Pyramid Hill and Bears Lagoon Serpentine, who meet in the Loddon Valley qualifying final at Maiden Gully on Saturday. In round one, the Bears prevailed by 15 points, but the teams had the...
YOU COULD hardly find two sides more equally matched than Pyramid Hill and Bears Lagoon Serpentine, who meet in the Loddon Valley qualifying final at Maiden Gully on Saturday.
In round one, the Bears prevailed by 15 points, but the teams had the same number of scoring shots.
In the return clash, Serp won again, but only through a feat of remarkable accuracy, winning by seven points, 10.1 to 7.12.
In both wins, Bears full-forward Josh Mellington was on fire, kicking 10 of 17 goals in the first round, and six of 10 in the second victory.
But a likely season-ending hamstring injury in late June has meant the Bears have had to share the goal kicking load.
If you draw a form line through Marong, which finished on top of the ladder in its bid for a third consecutive premiership, Pyramid Hill comes out in front.
The Bulldogs’ five-point win over the Panthers in round 12 was the first time Marong had been beaten in three years. The earlier clash this season resulted in an eight-point win to Marong, who beat Pyramid Hill in last season’s grand final by 16 points..
Serp, on the other hand, was beaten by seven goals in round four and by 10 points in the return match.
Pyramid Hill coach Nathan Fitzpatrick told the Loddon Herald the Bears had continued scoring heavily despite Mellington’s absence, and were clearly sharing the load more equally up forward.
“Now they’re going to be a bit more dangerous in their entries, which means we have to worry about ourselves first,” he said.
The Bears have five players in the top 20 goal kickers in the league. Mellington’s 93 from nine matches stands out, but since his injury other forwards have stepped up, and a one-dimensional attack has become more varied and threatening.
The Bulldogs have almost their full list to pick from, and Fitzpatrick said that with the double chance they would be taking no risks at the selection table.
“You don’t want someone who is 50-50 going into a final.”
Despite having that famous win over Marong in their kitbag, the Bulldogs are looking no further than this weekend.
“We have been looking at different ways of making plans for all the other four teams in the finals, and at the moment Serp is the side we have not got over at all,” Fitzpatrick said.
The other imponderable is the impact of rain on the Marist College ground at Maiden Gully, which is notoriously sloppy after bad weather.
Given the week’s bleak forecast, it may be the side which best handles the conditions that faces up to Marong a week later in the second semi-final at Bridgewater.