It all comes down to this! The final round, the final opportunity to lock in finals football. The drawn out relegation soap opera was spared a tear-jerking finale with Normo finally finding some touch in front of goal, which served to send Glenhaven packing in spite of their gutsy draw with West Penno, which in turn placed the Lions on the Top 4 tightrope. The Tigers' Top 4 aspirations were put paid to in a typically dour derby result, which also locked in finals football for Eastwood and capped their meteoric rise to second on the table after running second to last earlier in the season. The Ravens notched a win against Penno which gives them one more shot at sealing a finals berth. Three fixtures could feature goal keepers with the number 10 on their backs this weekend, but let's zero in on the two that count. For those bemoaning a shortened finals' series, never fear. A veritable first week of finals awaits this Saturday with 2nd playing 5th and 3rd playing 4th. Let's assess these two humdingers:
STA (2nd) vs RAV (5th) The Woodies stand alongside the all-conquering Bushboys as the form teams of the comp at present - both holding 7 game winning streaks dating back to their 1-all draw on the Queen's Birthday weekend two months ago. In fact the Bushies have conquered all EXCEPT their bogey side St Andrew's this season, registering a loss and that draw against them. And truth be told the Woodies' experienced squad would be the one most feared by Sir Luke and his troops heading into the finals. They are clearly not so easily over awed as others tend to be against the red and whites. That said, Eastwood ought not get too far ahead of themselves as they have a job to do this Saturday in keeping the momentum going against a madcap Ravens outfit. Phoenix and co. must cobble together one more victory here to salvage their season of promise. They then have to hope the Lions lose or draw against the Hawks to allow them to scrape in in 4th spot. Do so and it will set up a combustible grudge match between Gladesville and Kenthurst the following week in an apparently abridged finals' series. Will the Woodies' interest in qualifying both grades this weekend distract them somewhat from the task in first grade, thus giving the sole-focused Ravens the edge?
Prediction: STA 2-1
WPH (4th) vs HWK (3rd) It would seem an injustice for Jules' young squad not to feature in the finals this year, but a hiccup against bottom side Glenhaven last round has left the door ajar for this eventuality. And they need only look to the example of cross-town rivals Penno, who bombed out of the finals on the final day last year having sat pretty in the Top 4 all season long, for motivation. As a squad the Lions have banged in an impressive 85 goals across both grades this season at an average of spot on 2.5 goals per game. That's a better return than any club. Even so they stand to miss out in both grades if that goal scoring touch deserts them at Campbell Park from 1 and 3pm. Will it be rocks or diamonds, McEvoy or Chalmers for the young Lions this Saturday? No excuses! The Hawks are doing their best possible impersonation of the Parramatta Eels in 2016. A few big name signings in the pre-season, started out all guns blazing, looked set to challenge for the premiership, before unravelling with one seeming dysfunction after another. Next thing we know they'll be stripped of competition points when GHFA auditors discover illegal third party payments towards their BBQ budget have put them thousands of dollars over the cap! Last up 4-0 and 3-1 losses to form sides Eastwood and Kenthurst have seen them cough up 2nd spot and have done nothing to silence their detractors. This Saturday affords them one last chance to get their house in order before the finals. All to play for in both grades here.
Prediction: WPH 3-2
A special mention too to the reserve grade competition. Kenthurst have once again been the Michael Phelps of that comp finishing a few body lengths ahead. But the scrap for the minor placings is intriguing. Here's the lowdown:
WPH 30pts (+28) - Win and finish 2nd, lose and finish as low as 5th
NMH 30pts (+7) - Win and finish as high as 2nd, lose and finish as low as 6th
WRR 30pts (+4) - Win and finish as high as 2nd, lose and finish as low as 6th
HWK 29pts (+16) - Win and finish as high as 2nd, lose and finish as low as 6th
STA 27pts (+3) - Win and finish as high as 3rd, lose and finish 6th
With all those permutations don't be surprised to see the GHFA forum follow suit with the Australian Census website and crash come 5pm on Saturday!
Queen normo
wrote on 12-Aug-16 13:05Normo have been stacking their reserve grade team the last few weeks to try an bring some silverware to Harris road
Mr EUS
wrote on 12-Aug-16 13:07It all comes down to this! The final round, the final opportunity to lock in finals football. The drawn out relegation soap opera was spared a tear-jerking finale with Normo finally finding some touch in front of goal, which served to send Glenhaven packing in spite of their gutsy draw with West Penno, which in turn placed the Lions on the Top 4 tightrope. The Tigers' Top 4 aspirations were put paid to in a typically dour derby result, which also locked in finals football for Eastwood and capped their meteoric rise to second on the table after running second to last earlier in the season. The Ravens notched a win against Penno which gives them one more shot at sealing a finals berth. Three fixtures could feature goal keepers with the number 10 on their backs this weekend, but let's zero in on the two that count. For those bemoaning a shortened finals' series, never fear. A veritable first week of finals awaits this Saturday with 2nd playing 5th and 3rd playing 4th. Let's assess these two humdingers:
STA (2nd) vs RAV (5th)
The Woodies stand alongside the all-conquering Bushboys as the form teams of the comp at present - both holding 7 game winning streaks dating back to their 1-all draw on the Queen's Birthday weekend two months ago. In fact the Bushies have conquered all EXCEPT their bogey side St Andrew's this season, registering a loss and that draw against them. And truth be told the Woodies' experienced squad would be the one most feared by Sir Luke and his troops heading into the finals. They are clearly not so easily over awed as others tend to be against the red and whites. That said, Eastwood ought not get too far ahead of themselves as they have a job to do this Saturday in keeping the momentum going against a madcap Ravens outfit. Phoenix and co. must cobble together one more victory here to salvage their season of promise. They then have to hope the Lions lose or draw against the Hawks to allow them to scrape in in 4th spot. Do so and it will set up a combustible grudge match between Gladesville and Kenthurst the following week in an apparently abridged finals' series. Will the Woodies' interest in qualifying both grades this weekend distract them somewhat from the task in first grade, thus giving the sole-focused Ravens the edge?
Prediction: STA 2-1
WPH (4th) vs HWK (3rd)
It would seem an injustice for Jules' young squad not to feature in the finals this year, but a hiccup against bottom side Glenhaven last round has left the door ajar for this eventuality. And they need only look to the example of cross-town rivals Penno, who bombed out of the finals on the final day last year having sat pretty in the Top 4 all season long, for motivation. As a squad the Lions have banged in an impressive 85 goals across both grades this season at an average of spot on 2.5 goals per game. That's a better return than any club. Even so they stand to miss out in both grades if that goal scoring touch deserts them at Campbell Park from 1 and 3pm. Will it be rocks or diamonds, McEvoy or Chalmers for the young Lions this Saturday? No excuses! The Hawks are doing their best possible impersonation of the Parramatta Eels in 2016. A few big name signings in the pre-season, started out all guns blazing, looked set to challenge for the premiership, before unravelling with one seeming dysfunction after another. Next thing we know they'll be stripped of competition points when GHFA auditors discover illegal third party payments towards their BBQ budget have put them thousands of dollars over the cap! Last up 4-0 and 3-1 losses to form sides Eastwood and Kenthurst have seen them cough up 2nd spot and have done nothing to silence their detractors. This Saturday affords them one last chance to get their house in order before the finals. All to play for in both grades here.
Prediction: WPH 3-2
A special mention too to the reserve grade competition. Kenthurst have once again been the Michael Phelps of that comp finishing a few body lengths ahead. But the scrap for the minor placings is intriguing. Here's the lowdown:
WPH 30pts (+28) - Win and finish 2nd, lose and finish as low as 5th
NMH 30pts (+7) - Win and finish as high as 2nd, lose and finish as low as 6th
WRR 30pts (+4) - Win and finish as high as 2nd, lose and finish as low as 6th
HWK 29pts (+16) - Win and finish as high as 2nd, lose and finish as low as 6th
STA 27pts (+3) - Win and finish as high as 3rd, lose and finish 6th
With all those permutations don't be surprised to see the GHFA forum follow suit with the Australian Census website and crash come 5pm on Saturday!
Best of luck for the weekend, gents.
Queen Logic
wrote on 12-Aug-16 17:00Why would they be stacking ressies for the last few weeks if they only confirmed premier league status last round?
True
wrote on 13-Aug-16 08:05The only team that would be stacking reserve grade are those super league clowns from west Ryde...