By Matt Fotia
A closer look at some runs home, the tightest division of them all and Surrey Park’s platform to pounce.
All in this week’s In and Under.
Panther Platform
Surrey Park worked their way back into second spot on the Division Four ladder on Saturday with a convincing, yet very unappealing, seven goal win over Forest Hill, where they never looked troubled by the hapless – and hampered – Zebras.
The win completed a successful day for the Panthers, who for the first time in their history hosted four games on their home deck, with their Under 19’s rolling Rowville, their Women’s side pushing Knox all the way and their two mens outfits downing the Zebras.
There are rumours swirling of a second female side in 2022, giving the Panthers the prospect of well over 100 senior players in 2022.
Their Under 19 side are currently fifth in the Premier Division, just percentage out of the top four, following their Grand Final appearance in 2019’s Division One, whilst their Reserves are undefeated, backing up strongly from their upset victory over East Burwood in the 2019 Grand Final.
Meanwhile their senior side is well set to compete in finals once again, in an occasion that would mark the first time in their Eastern Football Netball League history that they’ve competed in consecutive finals series.
All of this is the foundation of very good platform for the Panthers to push up the divisions in the near future, with talented youngsters and a strong vibe around ‘the pit’.
Whilst 2021 might be a long shot, given Coldstream’s dominance, the Panthers must be targeting 2022 and 2023 heavily, with time ticking on this window of opportunity.
A platform is all good and well, but you have to use it whilst you can.
2. Rat Race
North Ringwood’s shock two goal win over Blackburn on the weekend might be one of the most season defining of the year, for both the Saints and the rest of competition.
North got the job done despite having 80 less disposals and 15 less inside 50’s than the Burners, with Billy Schilling continuing his strong 2021 form with three goals, aided by Jake Ireland’s double, as the Saints storming home with a four goal to none last quarter in front of Blackburn’s home crowd.
The win leaves Blackburn at 3-5 and all but out of the finals race, two games behind Norwood and Balwyn.
The Tigers are now the only side outside of the current top four the can conceivably jump in come seasons end, and whilst the finals race is one to keep an eye on, it’s the battle at the bottom that intrigues more.
Doncaster sit level with Blackburn on 37.5% and while the Burners are seemingly out of the finals race, their talent should keep them comfortably away from the relegation battle. Doncaster on the other hand seem more vulnerable, but a couple more wins should see them safely through to 2022 and that seems likely with Schramms becoming a fortress of late.
North Ringwood are now on two wins, with a win percentage of 25, even with Doncaster East and Berwick. Rowville also have just the two wins but have played seven games leaving them with a win percentage of 28 – atop the mini league at the bottom.
Of the four sides stuck on two wins, Doncaster East have the toughest run home playing five games against the current top five and just three against their bottom five counterparts.
Berwick and Rowville have an easier draw with just three games against the finals aspirants and four against the relegation avoiders, whilst North Ringwood’s remaining fixture list sees them play five games against 2021’s best and four against the worst, including two against Doncaster.ClubGames v Top 5Games v Bottom 5Rowville34Doncaster East53Berwick34North Ringwood54
At different points during the year each side has appeared either safe or doomed, with the evennesses of the division leading to wild hot takes on each sides future and while the constant swings and roundabouts will be giving each club varying degrees of anxiety, it’s going to be nice to take a seat a few rows back and watch it all unfold.
3.You’re telling me there’s a chance?
Speaking of relegation battles, another has emerged from nowhere in Division One, with Lilydale’s massive 42 point win over a very disappointing Montrose on Saturday Night breathing life into the Falcons season and giving them a glimmer of hope when it comes to avoiding the drop.
Liam Jeffs starred once again for the lowly Falcons, booting three goals in his second best on ground performance in a fortnight, leading his side to their second win of the campaign. Lilydale remain in the bottom two – two teams are on the Division One chopping block in 2021 – a game back from Bayswater, who have been impressive at home since football’s return.
The Falcons take on a winless Upper Ferntree Gully at home this weekend whilst the Waters travel to East Ringwood, leaving us with the strong possibility that the two sides will draw level on three wins by the end of this week.
Bayswater do host Upper Ferntree Gully a week later and would likely get back their game advantage, but Lilydale have put some real heat on the two sides Round 15 fixture at the Lilydale Sports Oval.LilydaleBayswaterRound 13 – Upper Ferntree Gully (A)Round 13 – East Ringwood (A)Round 14 – Wantirna South (A)Round 14 – Upper Ferntree Gully (H)Round 15 – Bayswater (H)Round 15 – Lilydale (A)
If they can win that, they’ll give themselves a real sniff of staying alive, something that seemed more unfathomable than the existence of unicorns just over a month ago.
4. Let’s get our of here alive.
Just get through this weekend Bears fans.
The Basin have been the cinderella story of 2021, with the young Bears starting the year like a house on fire as they looked to consolidate themselves a top four spot in Division Two, but in recent weeks they’ve showed signs of erring with tight losses to South Belgrave and Boronia.
The Bears got a taste of their own medicine as they were held goalless in the first and last quarters on their home deck, with eight of their 17 scoring shots coming in the second quarter.
Both of their recent losses are not reasons to jump off the Bears bandwagon, but given their age profile, momentum can have a big say on things. They rode the momentum wave in the first half of the season and now they need to tough their way through the rocky period, without sapping the playing group of its cutting edge and confidence.
Luckily it’s almost coming to an end, albeit with a game against Ringwood at the weekend.
But if the Bears can hit the month following with some of their pre-lockdown form – this doesn’t have to come via a win either, a strong performance will do – they should still see finals action in 2021, with that momentum enough to bank wins against the bottom three in the coming weeks.
Unfortunately for their sake, the weekend’s loss to Boronia has welcomed the Hawks back into the race and they’ll be sweating on any slip ups.
BEARS RUN HOMERound 13Ringwood (H)Round 14Mulgrave (A)Round 15Heathmont (H)Round 16Templestowe (A)Round 17Knox (H)Round 18South Belgrave (A)Round 8Heathmont (H)
5. Mirror, Mirror on the wall, which division is the tightest of them all?
Did you know the Division Three average margin of 31 points is the lowest of any division?
Did you know half of the games played in the Division have ended up being decided by 25 points or less?
I bet you knew that only one Division Three game has been a 100+ point blow out too.
This weekend was another wild one, as the division’s Jekyll and Hyde, the Waverley Blues, turned it on downing Ferntree Gully by a goal on a very heavy track at Wally Tew.
The win doesn’t move the Blues anywhere on the ladder, but what it does do – along with East Burwood’s come from behind win over Glen Waverley – is close the gap between second on the ladder and themselves in sixth, with all five sides (Ferntree Gully, East Burwood, Donvale, Scoresby and Waverley Blues) sitting with a win percentage between 60 – 67.
Only Warrandyte seem safe to finish in the top four, with a win percentage of 87.5.
The re-fixturing will play a role in the way the ladder looks for a long time, despite having no real say come the end of the year as all sides should end up playing the full fixture, reverting to points.
Waverley have both of their byes in the last month of the season, intersecting their two weekends off with games against Warrandyte.
This means there is a strong chance Waverley will have more wins than the sides above them on the ladder for a fair chunk of the season and Tom Langford’s men could also jump up the ladder during their own bye round.
Plus, if they squeeze into fourth, they’ll most likely take on Warrandyte for a third time in a row.
The next two weekends will go a long way to deciding the finals make-up ,with Donvale hosting Ferntree Gully before taking on Scoresby, whilst the Magpies travel to Warrandyte before their date with the ‘Vales in Round 14, the same round East Burwood host Waverley.
It really is the tightest division of them all.