Narre Warren recruit Andy Soumilas will be one of the stars that collide when the Magpies make the trip to Casey Fields to take on Cranbourne on Saturday. 80336 Picture: STEWART CHAMBERS
By DAVID NAGEL
THE Richter scale could be smashed to smithereens this Saturday when Cranbourne takes on Narre Warren in a clash of seismic proportions in round 11 of Casey Cardinia football.
Casey Fields will be the epicentre for all the hard-hitting action as the competition’s two powerhouse sides get ready to shake, rattle and roll as the build-up to this year’s finals series really hots up.
The aftershocks from the round two epic between Doug Koop and Chris Toner’s men have been felt ever since, but both teams have no reason to tremble.
The Magpies kicked out to a 47-point lead half way through the third term before the Eagles rattled home for a memorable one-point victory.
That match proved – if nothing else – that as good as both sides are they’ll be carved up by the other if they bring anything but their A-Game.
Both teams are sure to be tested mentally and how they respond will be the biggest thing to take out of the encounter.
Toner has been resolute since his side’s fade-out in round two, taking more positives than negatives out of the clash.
“This year our best is good enough. I think we play the best brand of football in the competition,” Toner said.
“Last year Cranbourne was the benchmark, but this year we know we’re good enough.
“We showed that against them in round two, that if we play our best footy we’re hard to beat.
“We’re neck and neck with them this year.”
Andrew Hunter seems the obvious choice to take on Cranbourne sharp-shooter Marc Holt and both men have brutal power at their disposal. Holt’s form is easy to assess – 82 goals from nine matches speaks for itself – and he’s been rag-dolling opponents all year.
But it won’t be that easy this week against a foe with an equal amount of strength.
Kerem Baskaya is the Magpies’ go-to man up forward but he has slipped from his hot, early-season form.
He dominated the Eagles’ defence in the first half of their last encounter and looms as a big challenge for either Stuart Morrish or Brandon Osborne. The burly forward hit the Eagles hard last time so look for him to be breathing fire early.
The Magpies’ Steve Watson and Nick Shannon will take on Troy Tharle and Michael Boland in the ruck in a crucial battle to feed each team’s star quality midfield.
Watson and Tharle are relentless while Shannon and Boland are athletic and all four are capable of drifting forward with menace. There’s no clear advantage here.
Both team’s have a plethora of hard-running midfielders who will feed off the inside work of Eagles Leigh Holt and Curtis Barker and Magpies Michael Collins and Andy Soumilas – the engine rooms of both sides.
Barker is brilliant but doesn’t gain the recognition he deserves because he’s surrounded by stars. But Koop knows exactly what he has at his disposal.
“Curtis has the smartest football brain I’ve ever coached,” Koop said.
“He brings others into the game. This is no knock on him, but if you put those elite smarts into the body of a Justin Berry you’d have a Brownlow Medallist.”
We haven’t even mentioned names like Rus, Weller, Fletcher, Theodoridis, George, Davey and Thompson for the Eagles or McNamara, Giobbi, Scanlon, Parker, Lee, Anderson and Harvey for the Magpies. There’s quality on every line.
The Eagles can now throw in a wildcard in former Fremantle Docker Justin Bollenhagen who was impressive in his first outing last week.
Tipping a winner is nigh-on impossible but we’re going for the Eagles to win a classic.
