In this week’s Eastland In and Under column, Media Manager Ryan Long gives you his key takeaways from the weekend.
Grand Final Preview?
Hard to argue that Donvale and Ferntree Gully are the two best sides in Division Three at this moment in time.
Their second clash of the season lived up to expectations despite tough weather conditions playing a big role in the outcome of each quarter. The key difference was Donvale’s first quarter against the breeze, managing to kick four goals. They were far less accurate after that, managing to kick ten straight behinds at the start of the last quarter.
Max Otten has returned to Donvale, and the key defender played an important role down back on Saturday. Especially a spirited last-quarter performance, not giving Ferntree Gully any chance to score late.
Other standouts from the side included the usual suspects of Haig, Wignell and Brouwer.
For the Eagles, they fought hard despite losing skipper Luke McComb with a shoulder injury in the early stages of the second quarter. Without McComb, Kennedy and De Ieso, the Eagles line-up was a lot younger across the board.
They managed to hit the lead before Three Quarter Time but weren’t able to extend the margin far enough to hold on in the final quarter, against the breeze.
Very difficult to see either side not finishing in the top two. With the fixture set up of playing one another three times, there’s a chance that the two clubs will meet in the first Semi-Final and the Grand Final, a total of five times in one year!
In saying that, you can’t write off the two other sides that’ll make up the top four. Finals are a whole other conversation, Donvale finished third last season and ended up just two points shy of a premiership, in their Grand Final loss to the Waverley Blues.
Comeback Kings
East Burwood pulled off the biggest comeback of the season thus far, 49 points down on the eve of Half Time before a spirited third quarter saw them within three points of the Lions at the final change.
They’ll be kicking themselves after a dominant first-half performance, then giving away seven goals to none in the third quarter against the win. There were certainly plenty of chances for Mulgrave late in the game, but they failed to kick a goal in the final term, kicking 0.6.
It’s the second time this season that the Lions have led the Rams at Half-Time this year, in a similar result in the opening round of the season/
It was a perfect day for the Rams who would have been pleased to see Knox take down the Redbacks later that evening. The two results now see them sitting in fifth position, a game clear of both Mulgrave and Ringwood.
With Mulgrave having played an extra game due to Good Friday, it’s hard to make a case for the Lions to pinch that last finals spot. They’ll be relying on at least a couple of slip-ups from the Rams in the final eight rounds of the season if they are to sneak in while having a big second half to the year themselves.
Chirnside’s season is alive
Despite the Panthers of Surrey Park has several changes over the last fortnight, it still would have taken a brave tipster to tip against them as they took on Chirnside Park last Saturday.
Earlier this season when the two clubs met, Surrey Park was the clear winners by 81 points. The two sides have made several changes since then but the Chirnside victory at home sticks out as one of the club’s most important wins in the last couple of years.
On Sunday’s EFNL Weekend Recovery podcast, Dave Newlands spoke about how the senior group took some time away from their normal training to regroup.
“We took the boys away from training for a week,” Newlands said.
“Went to lawn bowls, had dinner with each other and just got back to enjoying everyone’s company rather just turning up on Tuesday and going through the same process.”
Chirnside have struggled to keep their best side on the park throughout the year, missing key players at certain times of the year. The club is still hopefully to get closer to full strength in the second half of the season.
They currently sit a game and percentage behind fourth placed Forest Hill but with Nunawading and Croydon North MLOC to come in the following fortnight, they’ll give themselves every chance to get on a run.
It’s Surrey Park’s second loss in consecutive weeks, falling short against Scoresby a week prior with the Magpies putting on four goals to one in the final 30 minutes of play.
They’ve got a massive test ahead as they host new ladder leaders Kilsyth on the weekend, in the Match of the Round.
Still believe that they are arguably the number one threat for the Division Four flag when at full strength but now that they’ve dropped out of the top two, they’ve got plenty of work ahead of them.
