A heavily injured Traralgon side will face an in-form Wonthaggi Power at home this Saturday.
Traralgon’s form has been inconsistent, with wins against Warragul and Moe but heavy losses to stronger sides Leongatha, Bairnsdale and Sale.
One bright spot for the Maroons is the return of Danny Campbell after serving a three week suspension.
Dan McKenna and Sam Dunbar are likely to miss this match which will take some of Traralgon’s firepower away from its forward line.
Lee Warnett has given the Power bite around the ball, Nathan Jones is consistent and Aaron Ware is combining well with Earl Shaw.
Coach Leigh McDonald showed a welcome return to form last week kicking five goals.
Traralgon has won the last four encounters against Power and despite their injury woes may not be good enough this week.
Maffra v Moe
After scoring a surprise win against Morwell, Moe travel to Maffra where they won last year for the first time since 1994.
Ryan Donaldson was not going to play this year due to an injured hand but played the last two weeks and kicked three goals in each of his games.
Gary Blandford could be out for several weeks with a suspected groin injury but James Blaser has run into form.
In-form Maffra do look the better side, and drive from Kelvin Porter, Winston Gieschen and Josh Stubbe will give Adrian Burgiel, Daniel Bedggood, Jack Tatterson and Daniel Stubbe plenty of opportunities up forward to kick a winning score.
Morwell v Sale
Morwell will be looking to regain its position on the winners list this week but will find the task difficult against Sale.
The Tigers welcome back Tim Ryan, Jeff Ryan and Michael “funky” Duncan which will make them a five goal better side.
Jason Stevens played well against Moe and is starting to show form.
Morwell will give Sale a run for its money but need to implement a different game plan after last week.
Leongatha v Drouin
Leongatha is expected to continue on its winning way when it faces Drouin.
Drouin’s wins this year were against Moe in round one and Warragul in round four.
The Hawks are a shadow of what they were last year while the Parrots are going from strength to strength.
Foster recruit Jake Best with 13 goals in two weeks has rocketed up the goalkicking ladder.
Dwayne Holt at full forward is always dangerous around the goal mouth.
Drouin have been relying heavily on Pat McGrath in the midfield and on ballers Bob McCallum and Damian Carmody and defender Jordan Kingi.
Warragul v Bairnsdale
Warragul hosts Bairnsdale and the young Gulls have been putting good pressure on opponents in recent weeks.
The Redlegs are a formidable force at home, but away it is a different story. Players in form include James Gibb, Xavier Ryan and Mark Sellings.
The Gulls main players include Mat Gray, Mark Bradley, Brendan Sheehan and Ben Hughes.
The rest of the team also shows a great deal of enthusiasm and George Morgan has them playing well.
With one game separating fifth to tenth all teams are in the running for a finals spot.
