Football
27 June, 2024
Demons looking forward to Rats test
Ararat travels to Horsham City Oval to take on the Demons, which is expected to be a great battle in round ten of the Wimmera Football Netball League.
The Rats are sitting second on the ladder and face a Demons team that nearly got over the line against the Southern Mallee Thunder last weekend.
Now that everyone has played each other once, Demons coach Jordy Burke said it's a good chance now to see where you are at.
"I have spoken about the first half of the year, and once you get through that, you get to test it the second time around to see where you are," Burke said.
"Ararat has improved a lot, and so have we. We are trending the right way, so now we know a little about each other, we can hopefully reverse the result and come away with a win."
Tom Williamson kicked another eight goals on the weekend, bringing his tally to 33 to lead the league goalkicking. He is just one of many players the Demons will have to nullify.
Demons coach Jordy Burke said you can never stop a player, but you can try and minimise their impact.
"He is arguably the best player in the comp, and we have a few options we can look at to try to minimise his impact. He is in a rich vein of form and is an A-grade player, so it's tough," Burke said.
"Tyler Blake has been good in the midfield this year, and we have put him head to head with a few blokes, so we have a couple of options.
Hugo Papst is having a good year down back, and Ben Lakin may go to him when he is up forward.
The Thunder travels to Anzac Park to take on Warracknabeal, and despite convincingly beating them in round one, Thunder coach Kieran Delahunty knows they have improved.
"The Eagles on their home ground are a better side by a few goals and have definitely improved since round one. I expect a solid hitout and another tough encounter," Delahunty said.
Eagles coach Matt Walder looks forward to the challenge and wants a more sustained effort for longer.
"We are at the stage now where we take what we learned from the first half of the season, now that we have seen everyone once, and try to close the gap," Walder said.
"Over the last four to five weeks, we have shown longer periods of sustained senior level football, and now it's trying to tie it in for a full game, not 60 minutes or 80 minutes, whilst keep developing strong senior mindset to play four quarters.
"When we meet the metrics we set, we are in the contest; when we don't, we're not. We are still developing our attacking part of the game with the ball in hand."
The Thunder have some dangerous forwards, notably recruit Brad Lowe. They have Will Batson, Tim McCormick, Machok Garang, or Kyle Cheney, who can go to him.
Walder's conundrum, however, is that Cheney kicked six goals last week, so keeping him up forward may be the best plan of attack.
"It's hard to reject that fact, and he has been a good avenue to goal and settle in there, but the good thing about Kyle is that he has that versatility and can swing both ways," Walder said.
"We could go small and mobile without him as we have some hybrid forwards, or we could go tall. We are starting to put everything together, so we will see what happens on Saturday."
Minyip Murtoa, sitting fifth on the ladder, travels to Davis Park to take on Nhill. A win will put them two games clear of the Tigers.
The Burras still have plenty of injuries with Ben McIntyre a late withdrawal last week to add to their woes. It's unclear if he will play, but they are close to getting Tim McIntyre, Jye Walter, Sam Griffiths, and John Delahunty back.
Burras coach Gareth Hose said they need to bring the same intensity.
"There are no easy games in the competition, so it's really important that we bring the same energy to next week as we did this week and stick to the task at hand," Hose said.
The Horsham Saints face a must-win clash when they travel to Central Park to take on Stawell. The Saints are currently in seventh place, one win behind fifth-place Burras. The Warriors are in third and may get Josh Folkes back.
Saints coach Ben Knott said they have worked hard on contested football and being accountable during the week.
"We have worked hard on every aspect of our game. We need to be better prepared this week and can't come out slow like we did last week," Knott said.