IT HAS been a number of years since the Rooster has taken the trip to Jervois with their confidence this high.
At the minute Ramblers are in their best form of the past decade, they only have to go back to round three this season to remember they smashed Jervois by 69 points.
The Roosters have gone from strength to strength, with Luke Button the stand out player of the competition at the minute, dominating the football landscape. Jervois have got the irrepressible Trevor Rigney in a rich vein of form.
Rigney has bagged 39 goals in his last five outings, one of which was the representative game last week.
Rigney and Button are the two best players in the competition at this stage of the season.
Button in the key defensive role has some form players ahead of him in Adam Jackson and Clint Girardi, the big marking forwards.
The Roosters also have the small forwards in Mark Marchetti and Jarred Weyland, Ben Dougall is due back and Jervois can’t afford to let Liam and Patrick O’Neil roam around like unregistered dogs or they will carve them up.
It’s a very strong rumour that Jervois will trot out premiership forward Ben Woodhouse this week.
Woodhouse is getting itchy feet and he may be short of a gallop but he is another tall marking option going forward for the Bluds.
One thing about Jervois is that they will make Ramblers earn their kicks.
They will bash and crash and hit the body hard and they have that culture of knowing how to win big games.
The big man Jason Bayliss could be a tad to smart for the Ramblers pair of Ty Pfieffer and Alex Mason, but they will keep him honest.
The Jervois midfielders of Zac Ewer, Sam Mahony, Brad Schmidt and Russell Jarvis are very experienced.
They can handle pressure, but can they break that tight defence led by Button, Tyson Mathews and Matt Mundy?
It is Ramblers best chance in years to stitch up the Bluds on their home deck. They just look too tall up forward, their defence led by Button is in form and they should get the money by 21 to 30 points.
Imperials v Mypolonga
The Mypolonga Tigers are the March champions.
They promised the world and so far haven’t delivered.
Four wins all against teams lower down the ladder and they haven’t given a yelp against a top three contender.
Why would their supporters believe anything will change this week?
Imperials are coming off a pasting from Ramblers two weeks ago.
Tony Fielke will be looking for his goalkickers in the world’s slowest man Martin Baillie, Luke Harrowfield and Mathew Kowald to take advantage of the expected dominance of Henry Hodge, Ryan Eyre and Roger Puckridge, who will pound the ball forward with monotonous regularity.
We are all waiting for the big man Josh Charles to wind up, but he has made very little impression in the first half of the season.
My guess is that selectors at Imperials are blinded by his size not his performance.
I reckon he has had too many easy games out at Walpeup/Underbool and he is struggling with the stun and run of the River Murray.
The Blue boys will appreciate the drop in class against the Tigers and blokes like Girdham, Puiatti, Temby, Gogel and Hines will appreciate the extra split second the Tigers give them.
The Tigers are on the edge, there is still time to turn it around.
Brad Martin should be out of his sick bed this week.
The River Murray ran ‘Little’ Joe and ‘Big’ Jim Pedler into orm last week and we even gave ‘Wee’ George Pedler a free rub down in an effort to get him on the park.
The Tigers are a silly chance but history tells me they go all right for half a game, then it’s off to prepare the roast for Saturday night’s tea.
The Crown Casino has called tenders for its lamb roast and it’s been alleged that Mypolonga has won the contract.
Who cares about the footy.
Imperials by 51 to 60 points.
Mannum v Tailem Bend
Only one of these teams will play finals football.
In round one it was a pretty easy win by thirty nine points to the Tailem Bend Eagles.
The gun players of the Eagles in Hogarth, Raidis and Gabb did the damage that day, with the coach Mathew Dent finishing with four goals.
A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then.
Mannum were devastated by injuries early in the season and have now started to get key personnel back.
Paul Sarno will get a rub down with a $100 note now the representative game is over and he should come good.
Andrew Warnest has copped injury after injury which has dulled his effectiveness.
Shane Harte rolled his ankle last week but he is a tough little player and I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t front up.
The engine room of Mannum led by Ben Quinn, ‘Shovel’ Maloney and Brad Wakefield looks to have a bit more class about it than the Eagles.
The Roos rely on Matt Connolly, Josh Gould and Quinn to score but they can’t afford to take the Eagles lightly.
Tailem Bend sprang a surprise two weeks ago when the Mick Nolan look-a-like Darren Buckingham lined up for his first A grade game.
“Big Buck” surprised the football public including himself by standing up and bagging five goals.
If Gabb can give the runners in Hogarth and Raidis first look at the footy and they can find “Big Buck” one out in the square they are half a chance.
But lightning never strikes twice in the same spot.
Mannum by 21 to 30 points.
Email a friend