RELATED COVERAGE
After conceding its first loss of the year to reigning premier Sale, Morwell will be back home to host one of Gippsland League’s biggest improvers – Wonthaggi.
“This week is a really important game for us,” Tigers coach Harmit Singh said.
“However we are not panicking… we are eight and one, we are in a good position and Sunday was a reality check for a lot of our boys.”
The match is shaping up to be a blockbuster as Wonthaggi has won its past six games.
“They are going really well; I have a lot of respect for them, I have a couple of mates that play there and I went and watched them last Saturday and they were very good. I think it’s going to be a close contest,” Singh said.
The Tigers will be bolstered by the inclusion of former Collingwood player Tarkyn Lockyer, who after this week will be eligible to play finals football for Morwell.
The Tigers will also welcome back two key position players.
Backman Jason Stevens will return to bolster the Tigers’ ranks and midfielder Jeff Ryan, who missed Sunday’s clash with Sale due to injury, will also be back for the clash against Power.
Morwell is also gearing up for another big Sunday clash, this time against Moe in a fortnights time.
Lockyer and Anthony Rocca will line up for the Tigers in that match.
The former Collingwood teammates will join Magpies cheer squad leader “Joffa” in addressing a luncheon on the day.
Tickets are now on sale for the event which will be held in the Morwell clubrooms from 11.30am to 3pm on Sunday, 7 July.
Tickets are $60 and include admission, a two-course lunch, beer, wine and soft drink.
Traralgon v Sale
Traralgon will take plenty of confidence from its round one encounter with Sale.
The Maroons pushed the ladder leaders for the majority of the encounter and was within three points of the Magpies who went on to win by three goals.
“We played some really good footy in round one and weren’t quite up to it at the end of the day,” Traralgon coach Paul McCulloch said.
“We believe we have a pretty good young group of guys and we have every belief that we can take it up to them and beat them.”
Traralgon is sitting fifth on the ladder, a game and plenty of percentage clear of the rest of the competition.
“We want to be a top three team and to do that we need to continue to win games,” he said.
Maffra v Moe
Maffra will look for a repeat of its opening round performance which saw it kick its biggest score against Moe in seven years, when it hosts the Lions on Saturday.
In the round one clash new forward Darren Sheen kicked a bag of 10 for the Eagles, the most by a Maffra player against Moe since Peter Neville’s dozen back in 1982.
Sitting fourth and one game behind Wonthaggi on the ladder, the Eagles had to work hard for the four points against Warragul last week in tough conditions.
It can expect a tougher contest than the game back in round one from Moe, which has shown great improvement in the past three weeks.
Leongatha v Bairnsdale
Bairnsdale will vie for its first win at Leongatha since 1984 when it travels to take on the Parrots on Sunday. The Redlegs have enjoyed some good form on the road in the first half of the season with wins over Maffra and Warragul.
However it did not get off to the best of starts after succumbing to Leongatha at home in round one.
Drouin v Warragul
Drouin will host Warragul in the second west Gippsland derby of the year on Sunday.
In their first encounter in the opening round, the Gulls posted a 44-point win over neighbour Drouin, its first since 2009.
Both sides were brave in defeat last week.
Drouin recovered from a slow start to outscore third-placed Wonthaggi in the second half, while its opponent went down to Maffra in a hard fought battle in tough conditions.
