Bottom-order battle at McLaughlin Park

A Todd Reid, Finn Grimes Dsc 9698  TBW Newsgroup
BALL MOVEMENT: South Gambier will look for pace through the likes of Todd Reid when the Demons travel to Millicent to face the Saints tomorrow.

A Todd Reid, Finn Grimes Dsc 9698 TBW Newsgroup
BALL MOVEMENT: South Gambier will look for pace through the likes of Todd Reid when the Demons travel to Millicent to face the Saints tomorrow.

IT will be the battle of the cellar dwellers on Saturday when Millicent hosts South Gambier in round nine of Western Border football.

The Saints will look to break their 2019 hoodoo, which has seen the reigning premiers without a win.

While the Demons have struggled, they have recorded two victories – both at home – with one against the Saints back in round four.

That was a decisive 47-point victory, but this time the Demons must face a desperate Saints at McLaughlin Park.

Millicent has shown glimpses of good form throughout the season, but has not been able to carry that through the full four quarters.

In the round-four clash the Saints were right in the game until late in the second term, where the Demons found some extra spark and began to control the contest.

By the long break the margin favoured the home side to the tune of 16 points and South went on from there.

Demons spearhead Brayden Kain contributed a healthy five goals to help South kick away.

While he has not been as dominant as last year in front of goal – where he won the league goal kicking medal – he still holds down second place with 19 majors for the season.

Kain is always dangerous and the Saints back six – led by the “General” Steve Duldig – will need to stay focused to prevent the high ball coming into the star forward.

If he takes half a dozen marks within range, it could make all the difference to the end result.

However, in that particular game Todd Reid also kicked three goals, while six other Demons contributed to the final tally.

That makes for a tough attacking pack to defend.

For Millicent, much of that effort must start in the centre, where Jonah Grimes has been in impressive form.

Grimes has grown as a ruckman, possibly through necessity and if he can find the Saints runners first in the square – such as coach Lyndon Smith – they may be able to apply scoreboard pressure.

South has a couple of options to throw at Grimes, including the evergreen Scott Fleming or Mason Hein.

The Saints will look to the likes of Peter Duncan up forward, with plenty of others able to find the big sticks.

Sam Willis is one, along with the likes of Zac Bradley or Hamish Smith, who bagged two against Casterton Sandford in last week’s loss.

Both sides come off similar defeats and will want to bounce back.

For the Saints it is important to claim the win if they are any chance of climbing off the bottom of the ladder.

The Demons currently hold a four-point advantage over Millicent to sit in fifth place and they will not want to return to the bottom rung this season.

South has a list of experienced campaigners to draw from and if the likes of Bronson Saffin, Brent Howard and Dion Stratford can fire and bring the younger players along for the ride, it will go
a long way to winning the game.

The Demons should prevail and make it extremely tough for the Saints to climb out of the cellar in 2019.