Last week I owned up to making some bad calls on Donnybrook and yes, I threw some questions into the air about their reliability on Jeff Smith.
But before I fess up completely and go on about how Donnybrook has proved me wrong, I’d like to point out that I was one of few who had the side tipped to finish in the top five – remember that before you run me out of town completely, Donnybrook fans.
But nonetheless, I made what appear to be some bad calls.
The past fortnight Donnybrook has defeated the premiership fancies of 2015 and the reigning back-to-back premiers, so it’s safe to say they’re in the hunt.
I’m not prepared to label them premiership favourites yet, but my prediction for them to be playing finals football this year is looking fantastic right about now.
Collie claimed their first win of the season against South Bunbury on Saturday night, and it came off the back of six goals from Matt Michael.
In recent times, a lack of depth in Collie’s on ball brigade has led to Michael playing some of his time in the middle of the ground.
Although he still made an impact on the game when in the midfield, it’s good to see him in the front arch again.
He leads well, takes a strong mark for someone who is not overly tall and has a very good set shot.
With Collie lacking for fire power in the forward line this season, it would be nice to see him remain in a goal kicking role.
Previous seasons tell us he’s capable of kicking league-high bags if left in the front half.
Bouncing back from a sour loss to Donnybrook, Carey Park put together a clinical performance to dominate Augusta-Margaret River and get back on the winner’s list.
The win speaks volumes of Carey Park’s ability given that AMR actually played a decent game of football.
Yes, the Hawks lost the game by 43, but some of their passages of play were solid and for patches of the game they took it up to Carey Park.
But this made the win all the more impressive for the Panthers.
Graham Jetta put on a show, while Matt Martin booted a bag of nine.
The Panthers were also down a rotation when they lost Matt Cavedon to a red card in the first, but it did not bother them.
I’m expecting them to follow up their performance with a big win against the Lions this week.
Apart from Carey Park and perhaps Donnybrook as well, Harvey has the most impressive balance of players in the league.
They aren’t necessarily the most dominant group of footballers, but their spine is strong and they have a brilliant running team to support the big men.
Brett Lofthouse, Dan Lieshman, Andrew McDougall, Michael Genovese and Jordan Fimmano form a solid basis of tall players while Josh Krispyn, David Faulkner and Ryan Mooney lead their brigade of strong runners.
Regular contributions can also be expected from Mark Cherubino and Kobie Somers.
I’m not saying they’re the number one side, but in crunch games Harvey can rest assured they’ll be able to rely on this group.
The Boomers are sitting in the top five with a 4-2 record, but they haven’t impressed much this season.
Their four wins have all come against lower ranked sides, with their most impressive being a 39 point victory over the Harvey Bulls in round one.
But both times they have come up against quality opposition this year, they’ve lost.
Busselton handed them their first loss in round three while Donnybrook stomped all over them on the weekend.
I still believe the Boomers are a top five side, but when are they going to step up to the plate and beat a quality team?
Their next two weeks pose challenges.
An away match against AMR greets them this week before they return home to front up against top of the table Carey Park.
If they lose both of these games and slip to 4-4, then sides will see the Boomers as ripe for the picking.
