BENALLA V KYABRAM
Kyabram will look to rounded out its home and away campaign with a win to head into the first week of the finals.
The Bombers had another statement win last round over finals bound Euroa and that would have pleased out-going coach Paul Newman.
It will be interesting to see how the Bombers approach this contest as they can’t go up or down on the ladder and they will want to be ready for their week one finals opponent.
They had guys out of their team last round and whether they bring them back remains to be seen.
Newman may think it is not worth the risk.
Jordan Wolff, Christopher Welsh, Joshua Marchbank, Tyler McGregor and Will Martiniello will be desperate to help their team to be competitive against the visitors while the likes of Liam Ogden, Zachary Norris, Kaine Herbert, Rhys Clark, Bradley Mangan and Kyle Mueller will look to bank the win and get through the game without injury.
Tip: Kyabram
SHEPPARTON V SEYMOUR
Shepparton will be looking to finish on a positive note and confirm that it is the best team outside the top six in 2023.
Even with a defeat the Bears will still finish in seventh spot.That said, they will want to claim another big scalp before their campaign ends.
They have shown what they are capable of on their day and Seymour coach Ben Davey will be reminding his players of that to ensure they take winning form into its qualifying final showdown with Echuca in week one of the finals.
Davey will look to the likes of Ben Rigoni, Nathan Beattie, Joshua Alford, Riley Mason, Jack and Tom O’Sullivan to lead the way to ensure they make the most of the opportunity of playing at the home of the 2023 grand final.
Trent Herbert (five goals, including the winner in time-on), Tyron Baden (3 goals), Xavier Stevenson, Connor Fleming and Bryce Stephenson will be looking to send the Lions home with a loss.
It will be a good contest, but I think the Lions will get the chocolates.
Tip: Seymour
EUROA V MANSFIELD
This is an interesting match-up between last year’s preliminary finalists. Both have had in-different seasons, but are both September bound. That said, they will want to take a win into finals to give them the confidence that they can compete with the contenders.
The Eagles haven’t beaten a team inside the top six this season while the Pies have only beaten Mansfield and Mooroopna who will be part of the September action.
Marcus Varley, Nathan Stewart, Nate Trotter, Will Hayes and Andrew Bell will be looking to lead the way for the Pies who hope to regain a few key players ahead of their elimination final match-up with Mooroopna most likely in week one.
Sam Lynch, Ben Christopher, Jack Tomanovits, Daniel Leggett and incoming coach, Jack Hutchins will be the Eagles looking to try and lead the way to give them a win heading into September.
It will be tight, but I am going for the Pies.
Tip: Euroa
ROCHESTER V SHEPPARTON UNITED
Both of these teams will be keen to finish off the home and away season with a win. They have three wins each, separated by percentage, with the winner get the bragging rights of finishing higher on the ladder.The Tigers were beaten by Echuca last round while the Demons clawed their way off the bottom of the ladder with a five-goal win over Benalla in round 17.
Rochester will look to Joseph Atley, Mitch Cricelli, Wil Hamilton, Matt Kellett and Reid Gordon to get the upper hand on the visitors.
On the other side of the ledger, the Demons will look to Liam Serra, Mitch Trevaskis, Mitch Roche, Lewis Stanton, Marcus Wattie and Adam Pigattto to lead the way to give their forwards the best opportunity to make it two wins on the bounce and finish ahead of the home team.
It will be a low-scoring affair and I think the Demons might get the win in a close one.
Tip: Shepparton United
MOOROOPNA V ECHUCA
This will be a cracking contest. Rewind to 2022 and this was the match that the Cats announced themselves with arguably their best win in two decades to qualify them for the 2022 finals.We are here again, but this time there isn’t as much riding on it.
Although, don’t tell Mooroopna coach John Lamont that or the co-coaches of the reigning premier.
They will want to win to ensure they take momentum into the finals.
Will the Murray Bombers bring back some of their premiership heroes for this contest to get them ready for the qualifying final or will they continue to manage them?
They were missing at least 6-8 of their best 21 from the team that defeated Rochester last weekend.
I suspect a few of them will play to get a game into them before the finals.
The Cats will look to Daniel Johnston, Jed Woods, Liam Betson, Dom Gugliotti, William Bella and Jack Hunt to lead the way while the reigning premier will look to Jack McHale, Logan Prout, Jack Evans, Jackson Stewart, Bailey Gray and Liam Tenace to lead them to a win and the minor premiership.
With the Cats to be without Chris Neild due to a broken arm, I think it tips the scales in the favour of the visitors.
Tip: Echuca
TATURA V SHEPPARTON SWANS
This will be an interesting match-up. Tatura has five wins while the Swans have won the three games. How these teams attack the pre-season will be interesting.
There is no doubt that Paul Barnard and Jedd Wright have commenced the process of what players they want to retain, assessing the gaps and going out aggressively to recruit players to fill the holes.
Both teams have had good games and taken some positive steps forward despite not getting the wins to be featuring in September.
The Swans will look to Enrique Goggin, Zac Clohesy, Nathan Rachele, Tom Preece and Ben Gilberto to lead the way while the Dogs will look to James Bennett, Mitchell Elliott, Ryan Young, Michael Archer and Comanche Walls to get the job done.
Tip: Tatura
