South Bunbury’s conquering of their South West Football League opposition reached its biggest test last week when they faced off with Eaton.
Although the Boomers found a few consecutive second half goals to push South Bunbury, the red and white never looked too threatened.
Control is a word I have been using quite frequently to describe South Bunbury.
They are in absolute control of the competition just like they were in control of their game with Eaton last week – and just like they should be in control of their game against Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault this week.
The Lions played as everyone expected them to against Busselton last week.
Kicking a high enough score as to not have their performance labelled a disgrace, but going down nonetheless.
For me in this one, HBL really doesn’t have any personnel in any position on the ground capable of posing a threat to South Bunbury.
The Lions have shown this season that they have taken strides in positive directions, but this game could hurt the young brigade’s confidence.
The last thing HBL’s coaches and committee want is to end the season on a bad note, but this game looks like it will leave a sour taste in the club’s mouth.
That being said however, if HBL can put a challenge in this game it will bolster their spirits heading into the off season much more than a win over the lowly Donnybrook in round 18.
Still, it’s hard to see that happening.
South Bunbury has come to such a comfortable point in their forward 50 it’s become a certainty that someone will kick a bag of goals – this game could have more than one.
Prediction: South Bunbury by 80 points.
AMR missed out on a golden opportunity to cause a boil-over last week and they will pay the price with games against Busselton and South Bunbury in their final two games.
Busselton had 31 scoring shots against Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault last week; an amount that could well improve in this game.
AMR’s back half has been troublesome all season and it will probably see far too much of the football to be comfortable in this match.
Busselton’s midfield should be able to provide their forwards with regular opportunities and run away with a win in this game.
Daniel McGinlay will look to take advantage of the lower ranked and less seasoned opposition midfielders along with teammates Damien Lee and Jordan Eastwell.
Up forward Aidan Fraser and Sean Trombetta should receive ample opportunity to kick majors in this one.
For AMR, the cue will well and truly be in the rack after their loss to the Bulls.
With games against two top five sides in the final two weeks the Hawks will be deflated.
They will need big performances from their seasoned players in this game, and even then it’s hard to see them claiming a win.
Prediction: Busselton by 56 points.
With the Harvey Bulls claiming a win last weekend this game gets much more interesting.
Can they carry the momentum into a game against an in-form top five side and cause an upset? Probably not.
But remembering back to around 12 months ago, the Bulls played Carey Park in the back end of the season as underdogs and claimed a 10 goal win.
But to suggest there will be a re-occurrence of that upset win would be a bold statement.
Behind South Bunbury, Carey Park is the most in-form side in the league.
They have won their past six games in which they came up against a first placed Bunbury outfit and a third placed Eaton side.
It’s now safe to say that the SWFL has gone from having three genuine contenders in South Bunbury, Bunbury and Eaton to having four with the addition of the Panthers.
Harvey will need to slow the Carey Park midfield to have any chance of winning this game.
It’s no secret that that’s where they win their games from.
The addition of Reese Richardson has added some extra pace to an already quick midfield while David Roche, Chris Rintoul, Brayden Lawler and Viv Blurton continue to impact games.
But in this one I’m looking to some of the outside players to have an impact for the Panthers.
Jordan Aitken has found steady form in his time at Carey Park and is due for a standout game.
If defender Sam Browne makes a third consecutive appearance for the league side he could also be a player to watch.
It will take huge efforts from players like David Faulkner, Brayden Mann, Ryan Mooney, Dean Miller and Brett Lofthouse to get Harvey within range of Carey Park here.
Prediction: Carey Park by 45 points.
It’s hard to imagine a team that won its first 11 games is flying under the radar, but at the moment that’s exactly what the Bunbury Bulldogs are doing.
Despite a demolition of Donnybrook last round in which the Dons only scored one goal, Bunbury’s up and down form in the back end of the year has caused them to go unnoticed.
But to throw this team’s shot a premiership out the window would be nothing short of foolish.
Bunbury remains a team with 14 wins and two losses and they are the first team that I expect to amp things up come finals time.
With Collie’s finals aspirations ended at the hands of Carey Park last Sunday, you may not get the same fire from the Eagles that we’ve come to expect.
No doubt they will be flatter than usual and that could end in Bunbury speeding away with a win in this game.
Collie’s backline has been the strongest point of their game for the majority of this season, but against Carey Park last week it seemed to fade somewhat.
If the Eagles don’t sharpen up on defending opposing forward 50 entries then Bunbury will tear them to pieces.
Marc Re, Jordan Adamson-Holmes and Aidan Parker can all kick goals as forward targets while their midfielders are also capable of posing scores.
Jesse Gribble proved that point last week when he nailed four majors.
This means midfielders like Matt Michael, Adam Bignall and Chris Cross will all need to be on their game and refuse Bunbury as much possession time as they can.
This game is a good chance for the Bulldogs to gain a little more momentum before their round 18 clash with Eaton.
Prediction: Bunbury Bulldogs by 53 points.
This game threatens to be the ugliest of all this weekend.
With Eaton looking to gain as much confidence and momentum as they can heading into the finals and their big game against Bunbury next week, Donnybrook may become a casualty.
One thing that we know Eaton will do in this game, as they do in any, is take the game on at all turns.
Constantly playing on and moving the ball before the opposition gets set has become a trademark of the Boomers.
Unfortunately for Donnybrook they are one of the slower teams when it comes to setting up a defence in transition and it will hurt them in this match.
If Eaton can cause turnovers in the middle of the ground and run it with the pace and skill they possess then Donnybrook will be left in their wake.
Eaton key forward Jacob Ferrier booted six goals against a strict South Bunbury defence last week so assuming he remains in good form kicking a bag of eight or more isn’t out of the question.
Donnybrook will need outside players like Jarrad Guglielmana and Jaymin O’dine-Khan to apply pressure on Eaton’s inside brigade runners in Josh Bowe, Gino Catalano and Michael Battaglia to stop the flow of entries from being too regular.
It seems inevitable that Eaton will claim a huge win in this game.
Prediction: Eaton by 92 points.
