Some ladder-shaping matches are in store ahead of what looks to be another big weekend of Northern Football Netball League Division 1 action.
Heidelberg and North Heidelberg look set to add another epic chapter to their rivalry when they meet at Warringal Park.
It was the Tigers that escaped Shelley Street Reserve with the four points when these two sides last met, holding off the Bulldogs to win by one point in the opening round of the season.
The trajectories of both sides have been slightly different since that opening game.
Heidelberg sits on top of the table with just one defeat to their name, and a win on Saturday will make it a seventh consecutive triumph.
They were relentless again last weekend with a 52-point victory over Banyule at Beverley Road Oval.
Their magical midfield trio of Sam Gilmore, Brayden Sier and Lachlan Wilson all led the way again, with Gilmore now leading the Coaches MVP Award leaderboard, while Sier and Wilson sit equal fourth.
For North Heidelberg, they struggled to start the season with any real vigour, with a big victory over Macleod in Round 4 setting up an outstanding five-game winning streak which was only halted by Montmorency in an entertaining contest last week.
They missed Majak Daw in that clash. Their leading goalkicker and a pivotal ruck contributor, it was a tough void to fill for the Bulldogs and they will look forward to welcoming him back to the side soon.
Kieran Jaksic did his best to make up for Daw’s absence with an excellent four-goal performance while being a crucial backup ruck. He will hope that form is the norm for him for the remainder of the season.
We could see a high-scoring contest on Saturday, with these sides ranked in the top two for points in 2023 thus far. If North Heidelberg gets close to the Tigers again on Saturday as they did in the first round of the season, they may be more fancied than ever to pull off a massive result.
It’s a crucial game for West Preston-Lakeside if they are to keep their finals hopes alive when they host Hurstbridge at J.E. Moore Park.
The Roosters have lost four of their previous five matches, two of those defeats being by 100 points or more at J.E. Moore Park, including a 124-point thrashing by Bundoora in Round 9.
Luke Giles’ men have scored the second least and have conceded the second most points in the competition so far, a stark contrast to their premiership days from years ago and even to what we saw in 2022.
And while there is still time for them to turn it around, it needs to start with a win this weekend. They’ll look for consistent contributors in Alex Federico, Matthew Harman, Chris Ryall and Mohammed Yassine to lead the charge this weekend and get back on track to securing a fifth straight appearance in September.
They take on a Hurstbridge side who have slightly recovered from a recent form slump with a confidence-boosting 35-point win over Macleod.
The Bridges were bolstered with the return of some big names, headlined by Mitchell Moschetti who continued his great season with another terrific effort.
Joel Naylor was also back to his goalkicking best which will be crucial for his side’s finals charge. He finished with an equal season-high of four majors last Saturday.
Back in Round 1, Hurstbridge was able to hold off a fast-finishing Roosters at Ben Frilay Oval to earn their first opening-round victory since being promoted to Division 1 in 2017.
Nine weeks on, and this match could determine which side will still be competing for a top-five spot in the final weeks of the season.
Banyule will face their third consecutive current top-five side when they welcome Bundoora to Beverley Road Oval for the first time.
After a couple of shaky weeks, Michael Ryan’s men have returned to the form that saw them look at their best in the backend of the 2022 season.
We got a taste of the damage that an almost fully equipped Bulls outfit can do to a side, with the likes of Joel Fitzgerald, Neville Jetta and John Jorgensen all coming into the team from VFL duty last weekend, and all contributing to a thumping win over West Preston-Lakeside.
Those names will unlikely feature this weekend, but it won’t seem to matter because even with all those inclusions, it was Sam Lloyd who was a clear standout last weekend and is making a serious charge to be one of the competition’s most influential players.
The confidence they’ve built will come in handy against a Banyule outfit who have now been given a good dose of top-fight football ahead of the second half of the 2023 season.
The Bears were blown out of the water from the outset against the reigning premiers last weekend but still saw valuable efforts from Jack Langford (who kicked four majors) and Kurt Aylett.
A loss for Banyule could potentially put them three games outside the top five, making a miracle finals run more difficult to accomplish.
However, they’ll take a lot of learnings from their opening round clash with Bundoora, where they stormed home in the second half after trailing by as much as 60 points, but just fell short by eight points at Yulong Reserve.
Greensborough will look to affirm its spot in the top half of the ladder when they host a Macleod side desperate for a win at Greensborough War Memorial Park.
These two played in the first game of the Melbourne Greyhounds Division 1 season on Good Friday, with the Boro finishing strongly to take home the four points.
Since then, Saade Ghazi has put this new-look team into a strong position to contend for finals and beyond in 2023, as they currently sit six points clear of sixth-placed Hurstbridge.
Greensborough produced another defensive masterclass in their victory over the winless Whittlesea last week. Captain Jack Johnston controlled the airwaves and earned 10 Coaches MVP Award votes because of his efforts, moving him to equal second in the leaderboard.
He was assisted by Angus Seivers who is following on nicely from his breakout campaign in 2022.
Macleod meanwhile has been on struggle street in the last month, having only picked up two wins throughout the first half of the season.
They have produced half-decent performances of late, with 35-point and 20-point losses to Hurstbridge and Bundoora in the last fortnight respectively, while they were only 14 points behind Heidelberg in Round 7 before being blown apart.
Incredibly though, Macleod are fifth in the league for points which is a promising sign, mainly led by Michael Hurley who has kicked 18 goals in five games and sits third in the goal-kicking charts.
But they’ll need to be on their game in their attacking half if they’re to break down a usually disciplined Boro back six.
Montmorency will have another chance to pile more pressure on Heidelberg when they battle with Whittlesea at the Whittlesea Showgrounds.
The Magpies absorbed the pressure applied by an in-form North Heidelberg outfit last week to claim a 13-point triumph. They’ve now won seven consecutive games and don’t look like slowing down anytime soon.
Their dominance has come from four key players. Three of those work in tandem in midfield with Sam Binion and Marcus Lentini and Liam Wale-Buxton making a case with Heidelberg’s equivalent as the most influential trio in the competition.
The other is Patrick Fitzgerald who seems to mark almost anything coming his way and on top of that, kick goals from just about anywhere. He now has 41 for the 2023 season.
These are players that Wayne van der Ross will have to somehow stop or at least limit when his side faces them on Saturday.
Whittlesea was again disappointing in their defeat to Greensborough in Round 9, and their hopes of escaping the bottom of the ladder are starting to drift further away.
Deakin Tennant was a bright spark and a clear standout in the heavy loss. He has now been named in his side’s best in six of nine games this campaign. Matt Dornauf and Joshua Eid also produced some of their best performances of the season during the defeat.
The Magpies ran over the top of the Eagles back in Round 1 at Montmorency Park, with Sam Binion, Patrick Fitzgerald Mitch Honeychurch, all starring in the 11-goal win.
Jonathan Manzoney will expect nothing less from his side this Saturday ahead of some huge games over the next few weeks.
