The Kowree Naracoorte-Tatiara Football League resumes this Saturday as round 11 starts up the run home for teams trying to make the finals and the top teams battling to try and get a top-three spot and double chance locked down.
The ladder is tight in the top five and each of the teams has some big clashes coming up against other top-five teams in the run home.
Kingston v Border Districts
The first big clash of the run home takes place at Kingston where the Kingston Saints host the league’s most in-form team Border Districts.
The Eagles have not lost a game in two and a half months as they have put together eight wins in a row.
Border Districts have hit their straps and are winning games by big margins in their victories.
The Eagles are led by the dynamic Mark Quinn who can play either in the midfield or in the forward line and hurt a team with five minutes of brilliant football.
Fraser Adams, Zac Richards, Daniel Skinner, MacKenzie Bower and Isaac Hewson have been playing great football all season and add to the depth of the team.
The Eagles have a potent forward line where Daniel Schoenmakers leads the league in goal-kicking.
Kingston will be hoping they are near full strength after the week off due to the SA Country Championships.
The Saints are the only team that has defeated Border Districts this season and will go in confident this weekend they can do it again.
The Saints will hope to have James Siviour in the team this weekend and he has been a big loss to their structure as he is hard to stop in the air when he launches at the ball.
Kingston added Hugo Fahlbusch-Moore to the lineup a month ago and he has added another dimension to the forward set-up.
Hugo showed against Penola that he is starting to settle into the lineup and start to be an important part of the team going forward.
The Saints will look to win the ball in the midfield packs and players such as Jack Armfield, William Watts, Ben Warner, Jed Castley and Campbell Watts will need to do a lot of dirty work to win the clearances for the Saints.
This game shapes up as another great football contest.
The Saints might be slight underdogs against the Eagles this weekend, but the home side will be ready for the challenge and ready to put on a show in front of their premiership stars of the 80s.
Lucindale v Kybybolite
Lucindale host Kybybolite and the Tigers have to like their chances in this one.
Kybybolite have not been able to get a victory all season but they have been close to a victory a few times.
The Tigers are led by a great coach in Jack Kelly and he has had Kybybolite playing a good brand of football for a young team.
The Tigers came close to beating two league top-five times in Keith and Mundulla and they took it right up to Kingston.
Billy Laurie, Joseph Schultz and Brad Castine have been in great form this season and will be important players if they are to win on Saturday.
The Roos on the other hand play their home ground to perfection and will be hard to get over for the Tigers.
The Roos lost several premiership players in the off-season and their form has been patchy all year.
Hamish Gordon and Henry Tregoweth will need to be at their best to hold off the Tigers.
Daniel McCarthy, Tom Fisher and Jack Davidson are three other Roos who will need to continue their recent good form.
Kybybolite’s Stephen Craig is the key to this game I think and if the Tigers can get him enough of the ball inside the forward fifty, I think he can kick a bag of goals and lead Kybybolite to their first victory of the season.
Padthaway v Keith
Facing Padthaway at Padthaway will be a good test for Keith this weekend.
The Crows were able to shrug off the Lions in their earlier matchup this season by eight points and this game is set up to be another tight tussle.
Apart from the game against Border Districts, the Crows have been finding four-quarter efforts recently as they chase a top-three finish at the end of the minor rounds.
Coach Lewis Hender would be happy with the position they are in and will welcome the challenges that come in the coming weeks.
How the Lions stop the Crows’ big scoring options is the real question of this game.
Tom Edwards, Ray Jaensch and Tom Cooper are going to have to repel the Crows’ entries and start to run the ball back the other way to get the ball to Tobin Cox if they are going to have any chance.
Keith should have too many weapons for Padthaway to stop, but the Lions do love causing an upset when you least expect it.
I think the Crows will get home by a couple of goals after a tight hard-fought game is played out.
Bordertown v Mundulla
The rivalry continues this week when Bordertown face Mundulla at Bordertown and you know both clubs get fired up when facing each other.
The Tigers are looking to finish top three and boosted their chances with a strong win against Padthaway.
The Tigers added a new player in Nathan Studham who has SANFL experience as he played four league games this year for Woodville-West Torrens.
Nathan just adds more class to a team that already has so much talent.
Jake McGrice, Daniel Mosey and Nick Mosey are hard to stop if you give them space to work in.
Darcy King is another addition back to the team that makes the Tigers straighten up.
Darcy now has three games under his belt and will be ready to hit his best form as the team looks to be settled when the finals start.
Bordertown will need to get a dominant performance from key forwards Jacob Eats and Thomas Whittlesea if they are going to take down Mundulla.
The big question is, can the Rooster midfield get them enough chances to kick a winning score.
Kyle Emery, Matthew Leigh and Bryce Damin are going to have big games for the home team.
Mundulla will go in red-hot favourites and with the week off, they should be too fresh and get the job done with a solid victory.
Naracoorte v Penola
Naracoorte hosts Penola and the Demons bounced back onto the winner’s list with a strong victory against Kybybolite in the last round.
The Demons face the Eagles and are looking to get the victory and set up a chance to go chase a top-three finish.
Naracoorte on paper look like they will be too strong for the Eagles to handle.
Coach Matt Willson leads the way with his hard running and his damaging left foot kicking.
Rory Taggert is arguably the hardest player in the league to find a perfect match-up for.
Rory can hurt you in the midfield or he can go forward and kick a winning bag of goals.
Zac Peake being added to the lineup in the off-season has meant that Taggert can push up the ground more when needed.
Keenan Jacobs, Joshua Gregg and Nath Davey are others who are in form and add lots to the Naracoorte team.
Penola tries their hardest every week and has class players in Brad Merrett, Jayden Eldridge, Jordan Galpin and Scott Merrett who battle away in every game.
Bradley Bryant holds down the defence for Penola and will need his midfield to work back if they are to stop the ball from getting to the Naracoorte forwards.
The Eagles are a young team and the lack of more experienced players hurts them when they try and run games out and finish them off to get the win.
The Eagles miss having a big key forward who can finish their work down the ground.
Brodie Foster battles hard every week and has kicked 100 goals in a season before, but he needs help and would thrive even more if he had a big key forward or two to take the pressure off him and allow him to face the third-best defender from the other team.
Naracoorte looks to be too strong in this match-up.
The Demons should win by five goals or more.
