By DAVID NAGEL
CRANBOURNE and Pakenham may have scored impressive Anzac Day victories on the weekend but this Saturday’s part-two of round three in the South East Football League will provide us with a clearer understanding of the season ahead.
The split-round of matches began with Cranbourne suffocating the life out of Tooradin, conceding just two goals on its way to a 44-point victory at Casey Fields, while Pakenham continued a perfect start to the season with a clinical 57-point dissection of ROC at Toomuc Reserve.
Cranbourne’s midfield of Mat Fletcher, Brad Hermans and Max Gearon proved too strong for the Seagulls, who had Michael Wallace and Adam Galea play terrific games down back to limit the damage.
Meanwhile, Pakenham had too many stars for the Kangaroos to nullify, with forwards Daniel Fry and Jake Smith joining defender Nathan Brown on the best players’ list. Matt Clarke was a shining light for the Kangas with four goals.
But both of those results were expected, this week we get answers to some intriguing questions when Beaconsfield host Doveton at Holm Park Reserve and Berwick rolls out the welcome mat for Narre Warren.
Is Doveton any good?
The Doves, who took top honours in the recruiting stakes this pre-season, are undefeated after three rounds but could quite easily be languishing.
Having survived a scare against Hampton Park in the season opener they’ve fallen across the line against Tooradin and ROC, and that form, let’s be honest, it didn’t stack up too well on the weekend.
The obvious highlight of this clash is going to be the battle in the ruck between Doveton’s Frankston-recruit Russell Gabriel and Beaconsfield’s Scott Meyer – Gabriel, the winner of the Norm Walker Medal in his only season with the Doves back in 2009, against the winner of the last two years.
This contest would sit comfortably on any VFL or interstate venue outside the AFL, the magnificently athletic Meyer taking on the brute-strength and ring-craft of a man who has been there and done it all before.
These blokes are seriously good!
Doveton will tag Beaconsfield skipper Daniel Mislicki with Jordan Temopoulos, but the spread of a group that includes Tyson Mitchem, Damien Johnston and Kane Hughes will be enough to get the Eagles across the line.
Berwick will be looking for its first win of the season when it welcomes the Magpies to Edwin Flack Reserve.
The Wickers have been competitive against last year’s grand finalists -Beaconsfield and Cranbourne – in the opening two rounds of the season, but will need to turn around a seven-game losing streak against the Magpies that dates back to 2011.
For Berwick to win, it needs to find more avenues to goal with Mitch Johnson the only Wicker to have kicked more than two goals for the season. They need more scoreboard pressure to be applied from their elite midfielders like Ash Smith, Michael Riseley and Ben Kearns, while Jordy Andrews should be getting back to his best after an injury interrupted pre-season.
Narre’s talls, like Andrew Hunter, Corie Intveen, Jordyn Flannery and Jake Richardson should have enough of an impact to get the Magpies across the line.
Hampton Park has the bye.
