News 
 Local News 
 Sport 
 Football - Australian Rules 
 Eagles eye grand final spot 

Eagles eye grand final spot

10 Sep, 2009 12:59 PM
MAFFRA needs to maintain its intensity from last weekend to stave off Moe's challenge in Saturday's West Gippsland-Latrobe football preliminary final.

No doubt representatives from Traralgon will be at Warragul to see who it will be playing in the grand final next week.

The Eagles would have had a confidence boost after their 74-point win over Leongatha in the first semi-final.

They were simply in another class compared to the Parrots. After a tight contest early, they ran over the top of Leongatha.

The midfield, led by Michael Coleman, Ben Robbins and David Adams, was outstanding last week, but will meet a tougher challenge against the Lions' Troy Makepeace, Gary Blandford, Phil Town and Rob Michaelides.

The Lions have a quality attack with Andrew Petrou, Daniel Risol and Matt Forys, who kicked the first three goals against Traralgon in the second semi-final but did leave the field shortly after a knock to the leg.

Forys was the difference between Moe and Maffra in the qualifying final, with his seven goals.

There are still question marks over the fitness of Glenn Semmens and Gary Jones, who missed last week's match.

If Semmens can't play, Forys could be marked by Sam Bristow or Sam Tudor, who kept Justin Cowell and Dwayne Holt in check last week.

The presence of Adrian Burgiel, Daniel Stubbe and Nick Horsford in attack caused headaches for the Leongatha defence and look set to give Moe's Ashley Payne, Adam Kennedy and Peter Ainsworth plenty to do.

A poor second term was what prevented the Lions from taking a direct path into the grand final. Traralgon kicked nine unanswered goals to set up its second semi-final win.

Moe will need a four-quarter effort to defeat Maffra.

They will also need to play smarter football, as turnovers and inaccurate kicking for goal stopped any chance of a second half comeback.

THERE should hopefully be a lot for Maffra supporters to cheer about on Saturday, with the Eagles' under 18s and 16s also in action.

The under 18s will play Traralgon for the right to play Warragul in the grand final.

Maffra was unable to convert possession into goals against the Gulls last week, losing by a point.

The Maroons were too strong for Moe.

In the under 16s, Traralgon awaits the winner of the match between Maffra and Leongatha.

The Eagles were 29 points down at half-time during the second semi-final against Traralgon and were unable to recover, going down by 45.

The Parrots did enough in the first semi to eliminate Sale.

Moe will play Drouin in the reserves, the winner to play Traralgon in the grand final.

Print
Increase Text Size
Decrease Text Size

comments


No comments yet. Be the first to comment below.

post a comment


Screen name  *
Email address  *
Remember me?
Comment  *
 
We invite and encourage our readers to post comments. Comments are moderated and will appear as soon as our editor has approved them. When posting comments you agree to be bound by our Terms and Conditions.

Most popular articles

Yourguide to Your Toyota
 SEND...
 SAVE...
 SHARE...