Battle lines set

By Brad Kingsbury
ON a day sacred to so many Australians, two Casey Cardinia League football sides will vie for the trophy that commemorates their own sporting rivalry when Beaconsfield journeys to Berwick’s Edwin Flack Reserve in the first round of the ‘Battle of the Creek’ for 2009.
Both sides are coming off morale-boosting round-one victories and both coaches firmly believe that their lists are good enough to make the 2009 finals. One will be re-evaluating his position on Saturday night.
The Eagles have a much more potent looking structure than last year with a good height in Chris Kelf, Daniel Calteri, Lachlan Oakley and Abe Roder, combined with class runners led by Daniel Mislicki, Damien Szwaja and coach Robbie Taylor.
Taylor never underestimates an opponent, but is looking forward to playing on the wide expanses of the league’s main finals venue.
“Berwick has got some good players in their line-up this year and it will be a real challenge for us this week,” he said. “Coming off a win they will be confident too. I think the Berwick ground suits us and will suit players like Lachlan Oakley and Abe Roder. The battle between Kelfy and (Dale) Robinson in the ruck should be a ripper.”
Berwick coach Glenn Dale agreed that the ruck battle would be crucial, but said that Robinson would have plenty of assistance from his brother Brett who filled in for him against Devon Meadows.
He warned that the Wickers had plenty up their sleeves after last weekend’s win with new players including Darren Granger, Grant Noonan and Shaun ‘Squid’ Calamatta still adjusting to the style of football.
“We had a really good win last week, but we’ve got a lot of improvement left in us,” he said. “We overused the ball and missed targets and that’s something we will be keen to address this week. I watched one of these (Battle of the Creek) games last year and traditional matches are always big regardless of where the teams are on the ladder.”
The result of this clash will come down to the amount and quality of supply each team can give its big-marking forwards.
Both sides have the potential to score heavily given the chance and, given good conditions, the crowd should witness a high-quality, high-scoring contest.
Beaconsfield’s polish in the midfield is well known and Taylor has the luxury of running more players through that area than his opposite number. That should give the Eagles the edge and see them home in an entertaining game.