EDFL round 8 preview

By Ken Moore
ROUND eight presents plenty of interesting games that should sort out the season’s fortunes for a number of clubs.
At least four games could all qualify as match of the day.
One of the most intriguing matches is Kooweerup’s home clash with Ellinbank. This is a huge game for both clubs.
More so for Ellinbank for, if the Bankers lose, they can almost wave their finals hopes goodbye.
The Bankers have struggled to kick big scores and need another forward to step up to support Bill Harvey.
Drouin recruit Adam Weeding has done well but the Bankers need a third option to stretch the better teams.
With the return of Jason Harwood last week for his first game of the season, they now might have the potency to turn their season around.
Kooweerup has dropped three consecutive matches and will be desperate to arrest its form slump.
The Bankers are likely to have Neil Parke, Toby and Ash Wallace back this week and, with its midfielders Luke Bond, David Quirk and Tom Johnson all in good form I’ll tip them to beat Kooweerup, a team that appears to be on the slide.
After a series of big matches, Longwarry will be grateful to play at home this week against Nar Nar Goon.
Having said that, the Goon has been making big strides in the right direction and it is unlikely to be pushed aside easily.
The Crows’ form has been sensational. It has many gamebreaking runners and will have too much overall strength for the emerging Goon.
Poowong is riding high and sniffs a chance to keep in touch with the top six after its upset victory over Catani last week.
This week it hosts Cora Lynn and is a realistic chance to win.
With key forwards Luke James and Rohan Best, it now has two of the most potent forwards in the competition.
Cora Lynn has plenty to weigh up after Longwarry touched it up last week.
On the rebound, the Cobras will come out hard and their midfield is likely to control proceedings and deny the twopronged attack of James and Best the opportunity to kick a winning score. The Cobras should win by a slender margin.
Warragul Industrials’ lack of forward power has been patently obvious over the first third of the season and, unless the Gulls have a few hidden surprises, they will not be competitive against Bunyip.
The Dusties will have ruckman Gerard Bongiorno return but captaincoach Steve Pursell will miss again, sidelined with a hamstring problem.
Bunyip is likely to miss Daniel Hagen, who returned last week from a threeweek absence but suffered another knee injury.
The Bulldogs are a team on the rise and, with plenty of avenues to goal, are likely to register another percentageboosting victory.
After two crushing losses Lang Lang get a bit of respite this week in hosting the cellardwellers NilmaDarnum.
Despite missing its hardatit captain Adrian Carr over the past two weeks, NilmaDarnum has shown a bit of improvement but Lang Lang will win its second game.
On form NeerimNeerim South can best hope for a respectable showing this week when it greets Nyora. The Cats appear to have the goalkickers, Paul Whelan, Andrew Herd and Jason Halligan, to win games but so far its midfield just hasn’t been up to scratch.
In contrast, Nyora’s midfield is second to none and this will see that the Cat forwards are once again starved of the ball.
Nyora should win by 60 points.
There is plenty at stake for both Buln Buln and Catani. The Lyrebirds produced yet another plucky performance to knock over Kooweerup last week.
If nothing else, they show plenty of heart and will fancy their chances to score their fifth victory when they meet Catani on its home turf.
The Blues are likely to recall dual premiership defender Nathan Ruskin this week at the expense of Nathan McMillan, who is almost certain to miss with a knee injury.
Ben Maroney and Paul Whiffin are both expected back to bolster the Blues’ running brigade.
Catani came back to the field last week with an upset loss against Poowong but the Blues love a challenge and should find a way to get over the line narrowly.