Sunday, 2pm at Edwin Flack Reserve
Round 10: Doveton 13.9.87 d Cranbourne 10.12.72.
Cranbourne: The Eagles’ heart and soul is a bloke by the name of Marc Holt, however their dominance out of the midfield is a huge bonus and could pose huge problems for the Doves who were smashed in that area last weekend.
Doveton: Russell Gabriel is the Doves’ best player and has been all year. He can’t do it on his own but with the help of Michael Henry, Ryan Hendy, Aaron Henwood, Shannon Henwood and Daniel Charles, the Doves can create plenty of drive around the ground.
Cranbourne: Was Cranbourne’s game last weekend its grand final for 2009? The players and coaching staff wanted to taste a winning final and they’ve done that now so the big question will revolve around the side’s ongoing intensity this week.
Doveton: Talk about the bleeding obvious – will the Doves recover mentally from last week’s belting in only six days?
Cranbourne: While Holt is the key, let’s not forget a little forward named Matthew Fletcher who kicked 1.6 for the Eagles last weekend. If he finds his range it could be grand final city for the Eagles.
Doveton: It has been a long and successful journey for veteran midfielder Daniel Charles, but there have been no premiership celebrations along the way. He will lift and leave nothing in the tank this week no matter what.
After such a dominant season, it is hard to believe that anyone could tip against Doveton but that is the case in this game. How the Doves can come back from such a comprehensive and demoralising belting is the question and the answer is in the players’ hands. On last weekend’s statistics there would need to be a 173-point form reversal for the Doves to get up, but regardless of that, the fact is one team is on the up and the other is not. On paper Cranbourne cannot beat Doveton and that means they probably will!
