IF the Meningie Bears can’t roll Jervois on Saturday their chances of playing finals football will disappear.
It’s been seven years since the Bears tipped over Jervois and Saturday is their best chance to break the hoodoo in years.
Meningie have been playing some pretty good football but they just haven’t been able to string four quarters together.
They received a boost last week with the inclusion of Stuart Ferenci, returning from a broken leg.
It was a pretty speedy recovery, no doubt helped by a rub down with a hundred pound note, but he fired up with six goals and gave them some direction going forward.
Ferenci, Josh Robinson, Josh Benbow and Robert Payne are pretty handy forwards but the Bears showed last week that their Achille’s heel is their defence.
Big forwards win matches in the River Murray Football League and they were exposed last weekend by Ramblers.
It won’t get any easier this week when the Jervois tall forwards in Shane Sterzl, Sam Braidwood and Trevor Rigney head down to Meningie after a 21-day lay off.
Jervois can’t complain about the draw; they have had four very good years of kind draws but every so often you land a lengthy spell.
It can work two ways.
It gives Jervois a chance to get everybody fit and available and on the park, or it may take them some time to shake off the malaise, be slow out of the blocks and struggle to peg the Bears back.
There was not a lot in it when they last met and since that meeting the Bears have improved considerably.
Meningie are more than a silly chance this week. Rodney Cunneen, Peter Reichelt and Tim Sadlier fired up last week and Evan Smith, Chris Lawson, Dean Rossi and Chris O’Hara will have a crack with a lot riding on the outcome.
But Jervois have that mental, vice-like grip on the Meningie players’ brains and it’s going to take some breaking.
My heart says Meningie; my head says Jervois. The goal kicking forwards in Braidwood, Sterzl and Rigney, and the smart players in Sam Mahony, Russell Jarvis, Wade Hutchinson and Michael Tomlinson will be the difference and I would expect Steven Braun to pick up Ferenci.
If they close him down, Jervois will snuff out Meningie’s finals chances.
Jervois 11 to 20 points.
Mypolonga v Mannum
The number one DVD best seller of all time at Mannum is still the 2003 grand final in which the Mannum Roos got the money. You must book 12 months in advance if you want to hire it, but boys, it’s time you got over it.
Apart from the 2009 premiers Imperials, Mannum have the best player list in the competition, but they go missing at times and there are a few cracks starting to appear and its only four week to finals.
How can a team with so much ability defeat Imperials and Ramblers yet crash to Tailem Bend and Meningie?
I understand the competition is pretty even but the Roos need some urgent work on the mental side of their game.
Coach David Dohleguy is the meat in the sandwich and after last week he has every reason to throw his skirt over his head and get angry.
He gave them a fair spray and they certainly deserved it and they head into a dangerous game without Aaron Hockey, who has a hamstring injury.
The late mail is that Clive Waterhouse has a dodgy heel and could be out for some time. Mannum are vulnerable and they strike the Mypolonga Tigers in the worst form for a decade, but they have their backs to the wall.
The Tigers have to win to keep their chances of playing finals alive.
Desperate men do desperate things.
A drowning man will grasp a boa constrictor and Damien Cross has spent his two week sabbatical studying the fine print on his contract.
The Tigers’ form is hard to follow and the Roos have had their measure all season with the margin up to 100 points the last time they met.
Mypolonga have got nothing to lose, while Mannum are looking a bit tired and seeking to rest before the finals.
Brett White and Josh Coulter - no more excuses.
It’s time to fire up and get the Tigers over the line this week, because they are looking to you to lead these young boys out of the wilderness.
Brad Martin is due for a bag full and the rest would have freshened “Big Jim” Pedler after a very heavy workload.
There is a certain brittleness about Mannum.
Their best is very good but they run hot and cold.
It’s a good list with Mark Mueller, “Shovel” Maloney and Ben Quinn, but without Waterhouse and Hockey it’s time for Paul Sarno, Jarred Woodward, Todd Boughen and Andrew Warnest to stand up and deliver.
Mannum by 11 to 20 points.
Imperials v Tailem Bend
There was a lot of fun and jocularity at Tailem Bend last week, but the fun and jocularity is about to come to a grinding halt.
The serious stuff is about to get under way and I expect Tailem Bend to get a fair smack on Saturday.
The win by Tailem Bend last week has gone a long way towards the Eagles playing in the 2009 finals series.
It’s not a done deal yet but you could feel a great burden lifted off Coach Matthew Dent’s shoulders.
He is nearly there but the harsh reality of where they really are will hit home this Saturday.
It’s a fair gap between Imperials and the rest of the competition and with Matt Kowald and “Leo” Seyers due back, the Blues have a formidable look about them.
Football is a tough game and sometimes clubs like Tailem Bend, who are getting a bit chirpy as we approach September, need to be put back in their box.
There is a certain pecking order established that has to be observed and at the minute Tailem Bend are starting to annoy the top sides.
The Eagles showed a bit of character last week; they were headed in the last term and they could have rolled over but they didn’t.
They have that sprinkling of core players that refused to buckle when the blowtorch was applied to the belly.
Mitchell Vickers, who has a shaved melon that looks like a boarding house pudding, was superb.
He is playing with confidence and keeps his feet.
Nine goals from Laurie Rankine was his best haul this season but can he repeat it against the Blues defence led by Ryan Eyre and Ben Quast? They are two very good young defenders.
Matthew Dent has busted his guts with this side.
They are in the box seat for a finals play off and would have gained a lot from last week’s impressive win, but this week they are taking on the competition heavy weights and I just want to see Dent and his team soak up the atmosphere.
Have a good time but be prepared to cop a caning.
Tailem Bend, remember these names: Daniel Girdham, Tyson Wait, Henry Hodge, Luke Harrowfield and Ryan Eyre.
This is not a cast from “Deliverance” but by 5pm on Saturday night it could well be.
Don’t forget Boyd and Zeb Kenny, Jason Puaitti, Jamie Honnor and the gun forward who chopped you up last time, Shaun O’Brien.
Mathew Dent, I only suggest you take your autograph book along and grab the signature of John Leahy.
He is the insurance for the current coaching staff reappointment in 2010 of David Schenscher and Tony Fielke, because Saturday will be the last time you see them in 2009 and I reckon they will give you something to remember.
Imperials 71 to 90 points.
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