By Tash Gunawardana
How great was it to have the Eastern Football Netball League Women’s footy back last weekend and Round 11 kicked off last night with a Knox win over Montrose!
Premier Division:
SBL Wolves vs Mount Evelyn: SBL Wolves hosts Mount Evelyn at Belgrave South Recreation Reserve. Mount Evelyn are equal second with two other teams including South Croydon and Vermont and will be hoping they can secure their seventh win of the season and take second spot outright dependent on other results. Mount Evelyn have more to play with four rounds left, but do not count the last placed SBL Wolves out as they play for pride on Saturday.
Tip: Mount Evelyn
Eastern Devils vs Vermont: Eastern Devils take on Vermont at Mulgrave Reserve in what is the top four Premier Women’s clash. Eastern Devils will head into the match as heavy favourites as they are the ladder leaders with nine wins and Vermont are fourth placed with six wins. It will take Vermont’s best to overcome the might of the Eastern Devils especially on their home deck.
Eastern Devils – “Looking forward to playing Vermont against this weekend,” Eastern Devils Coach Jason Cridland said. “It is such a tight competition so our focus will be to ensure we play four quarters of consistent football against a quality opponent.”
Vermont – “The Devils at Mulgrave is a tough assignment,” Premier Coach Tim Da Silveria said. “This week will be a good measure to see where our girls are at.”
Tip: Eastern Devils
Premier B:
The Basin vs South Croydon: The Basin tackles South Croydon at the Batterham Reserve in the Premier and Premier B crossover match. The Basin sits third on the Premier B ladder and South Croydon are second on the Premier ladder, so we should expect a tight contest between two teams that have had similar seasons, The Basin (five wins) and South Croydon (six wins).
Tip: The Basin
Boronia vs Donvale: Boronia and Donvale play each other for the second consecutive week, but this time Boronia hosts Donvale at Tormore Reserve. Boronia will be looking to bounce back after their massive defeat to Donvale last weekend.
Boronia – “Unique situation playing Donvale two weeks in a row,” Coach Scott Nicholas said. “We were pleased with our efforts last week, we just made the game more difficult for ourselves that it needed to be, and Donvale on the other hand were very efficient. We’ve had a great week on the track and will make some adjustments and see if we can change the result!”
Donvale – “Enjoyed the win last week,” Donvale coach Stephen Latino said. “Bit unusual coming up against the same side in Boronia but a lot can change in a week and we’re looking to be as fierce and aggressive as we were against them last round. At their home ground we’re expecting a good contest.”
Tip: Boronia
Ferntree Gully vs Whitehorse Pioneers: Ferntree Gully clashes with Whitehorse Pioneers at Wally Tew Reserve. Ferntree Gully are winless and sitting at the bottom of the ladder and Whitehorse are second pushing to move to first on the ladder with a win this weekend depending on the result of the Boronia vs Donvale match. Whitehorse have showed all season that they are one of the premier teams in Premier B and they will be extremely hard to beat for Ferntree Gully.
Ferntree Gully – “Playing Whitehorse for the second week in a row but back at our home deck this week,” Coach Tim Cavanagh said. “We played a great game of back and forth contested footy against them last week for three quarters but ran out of steam late, which you can’t afford to do against a quality opposition. We’re confident we can put a full four quarter effort together this week and hopefully reverse the result from last week in front of the Gully faithful.”
Tip: Whitehorse
Division One:
Beaconsfield vs Ringwood: Beaconsfield and Ringwood battle it out at Holm Park Reserve. Ringwood will be hoping that they can secure their third win of the season and go equal with Beaconsfield on the ladder. Expect a close encounter between two evenly matched sides.
Beaconsfield – “After a very had hit out last week vs Rowville our girls are ready for another big game,” Beaconsfield coach Troy Robinson said. “Our challenge is to drive four quarters of competitiveness because we know our best is good enough so fingers crossed, we can get it done.”
Tip: Beaconsfield
Blackburn vs Rowville: A undefeated Rowville travels to Morton Park to take on the winless Blackburn. Two teams with different focuses for the rest of the season as Rowville have eyes set on a Division One finals series and Blackburn is just all about improving from week to week and seeing how they play against the rest of the Division One teams.
Blackburn – “We’re looking forward to playing Rowville and seeing how we shape up against the top team,” Blackburn Coach Jules Hay said. “We had a great session with Brenton Sanderson this week, so the squad is very positive and continuing to show great signs of development.”
Tip: Rowville
North Ringwood vs Park Orchards: Quambee Reserve hosts the second and third placed matchup between Park Orchards and North Ringwood. It shapes up to be a mouth-watering finals type clash between two sides that will feature in the pointy end of the season.
North Ringwood – “We have been introducing new layers into our game which has delivered some improvement. The girls are hungry for success and really looking forward to a tough competitive twilight game at our home ground.” – Jules Hanson
Tip: Park Orchards
Division Two:
Knox vs Montrose: Knox thumped Montrose by 79 points last night at Knox Gardens Reserve in the standalone Thursday night clash.
Kilsyth vs Heathmont: Kilsyth faces Heathmont at Pinks Reserve. Heathmont will be in search of their third victory and to do so they will need to halt the scoring impact of Shae Dale and Elise Hoole. If Heathmont are strong defensively than they could defeat Kilsyth.
Tip: Kilsyth
Surrey Park vs East Ringwood: Surrey Park hosts East Ringwood at Surrey Park Reserve. East Ringwood will be favourites on the weekend as they have immense scoring power with three forwards in the top five on the leading goal kickers table including Nicola Davidson (18 goals), Hayley Thompson (14 goals) and Stephanie McNamara (11 goals).
Tip: East Ringwood
Division Three:
East Burwood vs Mooroolbark: East Burwood and Mooroolbark come up against each other at East Burwood Reserve. East Burwood will be looking to notch up their eighth win of the season and move to equal top of the ladder with Croydon North MLOC depending on the results of the Croydon North MLOC vs Coldstream match.
Mooroolbark – “Another game last week against Nunawading in which we saw some further positive signs,” Mooroolbark coach Domenic Ciancio said. “We are still getting to know our teammates strengths and are learning all the time and this week against one of the benchmark teams it will be no different.”
Tip: East Burwood
Croydon North MLOC vs Coldstream: The third placed Coldstream ventures out to Hughes Park to try and topple the ladder leaders Croydon North MLOC. A matchup that will go down to the wire between two sides that have played quality women’s football all season and on paper this looks like it will be a finals type encounter. It will be quite the challenge for Coldstream to topple the might of Croydon North MLOC as they have three super forwards on the Division Three top five goal kicking ladder with goal kicking leader Gabriella Zappia (37 goals) followed by April Jeeves in second with 29 goals and in fifth Brittany Grech with 12 goals.
Croydon North MLOC – “Coldstream this week at North Croydon 10:40 start,” Coach John Hayshurst said. “We are playing terrific team football. All players know their roles now Saturdays and are applying themselves to a very good level. Coldstream are one of these sides who are relentless at making our team work really hard. Looking forward to the challenge.”
Coldstream – “Last week our team cemented our first finals appearance. The team has seen a massive improvement from season 2021 which is building the confidence in our players week to week.
“This week we take on the top spot Croydon North MLOC which will be a challenge that our team is really looking forward to.” – Ben Gardner
Tip: Croydon North MLOC
Nunawading vs Mitcham: It is the fourth and fifth place matchup between Nunawading and Mitcham at Koonung Reserve. Nunawading will be keen to win so they can keep in touch with the teams above them on the ladder, as a loss to Mitcham could mean they fall out finals contention with three games left after this weekend. Nunawading have more to play for and Mitcham will need to be on their guard and try to stop Nunawading from having it all their own way in the contest.
Tip: Nunawading
Fairpark – BYE
Division Four:
SBL Wolves Teal vs The Basin Green: SBL Wolves Teal hosts The Basin Green at Belgrave South Recreation Reserve. A win for the The Basin Green on Saturday could mean they move into third position on the ladder and be one win away from the second placed Vermont Gold depending on if other results work in their favour.
The Basin Green – “An early start out at South Belgrave brings some challenges but the girls are pumped to hit the ground running after a massive win against Vermont last week,” The Basin Green coach Kirsty McConnell said. “We plan to bring that momentum into this week’s match and continue to build on our pressure around the contest and our structures across the ground.”
Tip: The Basin Green
Eastern Devils Black vs Boronia Gold: The ladder leaders Eastern Devils Black clashes with the last placed Boronia Gold at Mulgrave Reserve. On season form, we will probably get a one-sided contest but you never know as upsets can happen if Boronia Gold puts their best forward and the Eastern Devils do not bring the same intent and grunt they have shown all season long. “
Boronia Gold – “Understanding our strengths and developing them has been a key focus this week,” Coach Candyce Wright said. “We look forward to keeping that momentum up and staying positive about all the small wins for our group.”
Tip: Eastern Devils Black