James Murphy
NORTH GAMBIER v WEST GAMBIER
WEST Gambier will need to pull off something special if it is to keep its 2024 Limestone Coast football season alive.
The Roos meet an in-form North Gambier in a must-win elimination final which will be played at Blue Lake Sports Park this Saturday.
The Tigers will be brimming with confidence, coming off a strong period on the park.
Within their recent purple patch the most notable success was a victory over ladder leader Millicent in the penultimate minor round.
That win came without the services of star forward Sam Stafford, who returned to the field last week against Casterton Sandford.
West did finish its season with two wins, but they came over bottom-placed East Gambier and Casterton Sandford, another side out of finals contention.
Their last encounter with a top-four team was a disappointing match against South Gambier, while an even worse performance against minor premier Millicent had the Roos suffer a 53-point loss with a score of just 18.
All that said, they did win their last meeting with the Tigers and will want to replicate those efforts this weekend.
Mitchell Cornolo was the man of the match for that match, while Jordan Williams led the scoring with five goals.
Since then it has been the Brandon Newton show at West and he enters finals off an impressive few weeks.
He comes off three consecutive best-on-ground performances for the Roos with a total of 21 goals in those games alone.
He will need to be kept quiet to prevent another big haul, while the likes of Lawry Bradley-Brown, Kyle Giddings and ruckman Braiden Ousey have all been in consistent form.
North will take comfort in welcoming back a handful of injured players since their previous clash with the Roos.
Having injected Stafford back into the roster the Tigers will also take comfort from the fact they have several reliable options in the forward line.
Toby de Wit is in dangerous form and enters off a six-goal effort against the Cats.
He also impressed against the Saints and seems to have his accuracy dialled in – complementing his incredible marking ability well.
Declan Kenny comes off a best-on-ground performance, while the likes of Josh Jenner and Hamish Telford and ruckman Mitchell Kelton will also be ones to watch.
The North roster appears to gel well and have turned into a real force in the back end of the season.
Despite finishing in third place everything seems to have come together at the right time and the Tigers look well prepared for the coming finals campaign.
However, the road to a grand final appearance is not easy for either team, with two must-win games standing in the way of a ticket into the decider.
Last year’s Western Border Football League finals had North knock out West in the preliminary final and now the two sides have the chance to end each other’s seasons again.
As it stands it looks like another Tigers victory is imminent and they should book themselves a preliminary final bout against the loser of next week’s match between Millicent and South Gambier.
