By Dylan Beaumont
Anzac Day will be headlined by Narre South’s potential return to the winning list in Southern Division 4 when the Saints head to Meade Reserve to take on Clayton.
The Saints currently sit rock bottom of the ladder in the early stages of the season but will be ready to fire after a week’s rest.
Clayton’s Zak Knight won’t be afraid to hand them a 0-3 start, dominating in the opening two wins over South Yarra and Doveton.
Dandenong West is expected to rise after its slow start and will have the opportunity to do so against South Yarra this weekend.
Facing the two heavyweights in Lyndale and Hallam to begin the season, the Westerners only lost by a combined 27 points (one and 26-point losses).
The talents of Riley Lawrence, Luke Broomhall and captain Dylan Diacono are relentless and should hold Dandy West in good stead.
South Yarra has also been unfortunate, falling short by 11 points and seven points to Clayton and Moorabbin respectively.
Vice-captain Brayden Hunt has kicked seven goals in two weeks, including a bag of six last week against Moorabbin.
Hallam has ventured through the first two weeks unerringly, with two wins on the opposite end of the scale.
They defeated Dandenong West by a point and then Narre South by 165 points.
Coach Tom Dalton won’t underestimate anyone, including this week’s opponent Doveton Eagles.
“We won’t be taking Doveton easy; we won’t be taking anyone easy,” Dalton said.
“We’re just trying to get four points every week.
“We trained as normal last week and then had a bit of fun for the last half an hour of training.”
Dalton is aware of his side’s position, earmarking offensive production as a key ingredient to success.
“Unfortunately, where we are, every team’s going to come out firing against us every week,” he said.
“Last year it was Hampton, this year it’s us and Lyndale.
“It doesn’t matter whether you play basketball or football, you have to keep that scoreboard ticking over.”
Dalton’s side was praised for their running game by opponents Narre South last week and the addition of Dylan Vanderwert proved a positive one.
“It was good to get Dylan Vanderwert back, you get a lot of run off of him which we’re looking for, we have a lot of run off our half back line,” Dalton explained.
“Speaking to Narre South after the game they said we killed them on the outside, we were too good on the outside.”
As well as their run game, Hallam’s forward line has more structure than last year, a major factor on the scoreboard in rounds one and two.
“We’re really getting some good drive through our midfielders and this year we’ve got a little bit more firepower forward,” Dalton said.
“Last year we struggled with our big target up forward, this year we’ve got lots more options and we’re trying to create as many scoring options as possible.”
With the competition shaping itself early, Dalton anticipates Dandenong West to turn around their 0-2 start to the season.
“I think Dandenong West is probably the only team who will rise up the ladder quicker, they’ve played us and Lyndale in the first two weeks and I thought they weren’t as far away as they were last year, so they’ll climb up the ladder a little bit.”
Their opponents this week, Doveton Eagles, have kicked the exact same score both weeks; 6.11(47). They’ll be hoping to right their wrongs with goal kicker Matthew Carter and captain Jacob Flannery leading from the forefront.
To close out the round, undefeated Moorabbin and Lyndale square off at Moorabbin West.
When these sides last played, it was a blockbuster elimination final which ended in a three-point Lyndale victory.
Moorabbin led that game by 27 points at quarter time before coughing up the lead in the second quarter.
Trailing by 19 in the fourth quarter, they crawled back to within three points before the siren sounded.
This year, Moorabbin have kicked 14 and 17 goals in the opening two weeks, one of the higher scoring sides to begin the year.
Lyndale has been similar, tallying 123 and 111 in weeks one and two correspondingly.
Mark Stevens has kicked 14 goals in two weeks (9 and 5 goals) and Chanel Lalotoa has been tremendous.
Ladder: Hallam, Clayton, Lyndale, Moorabbin 8, South Yarra, Dandenong West, Doveton Eagles, Narre South Saints.
Fixture R3: Friday 25 April: Clayton v Narre South Saints. Saturday 26 April: South Yarra v Dandenong West, Doveton Eagles v Hallam, Moorabbin v Lyndale.
