Adelaide Footy League: Focus on Furniture Div 2 Rd 18 preview
THE top five may be set but a few deck chairs are still to be shuffled before finishing places are realised leading into the first week of the finals in division two in a fortnight.
THE top five may be set but a few deck chairs are still to be shuffled before finishing places are realised leading into the first week of the finals in division two in a fortnight.
The double chance is yet to be sealed while at the other end of the ladder, the relegation battle will come to a conclusion.
Athelstone and PHOS Camden appear most likely to retain their spots in second and third respectively as fourth-placed Gaza has a tough encounter against the ever imposing ladder-leader Henley on Saturday.
The Eagles must beat the title-bound Sharks and hope the Phantoms succumb to Broadview to overhaul the current third-placed outfit.
At the same time, a significant victory could earn PHOS Camden a home qualifying final if the Raggies fall at the last hurdle to Old Ignatians this week.
Meanwhile, the Tigers, which are slimly holding on for survival at this level for next year, will also be keeping an eye on the results of ninth-placed Scotch OC and 10th-placed Pembroke OS.
A loss to the Phantoms would result in Broadview requiring both these rivals to lose as well to stay up in 2018.
Percentage may become a factor too which could make things even trickier on Saturday evening, so have calculators at the ready.
Scotch OC and the Kings fought out a tight contest last week with the former taking the honours by just eight points but success hasn’t altered its fate quite yet.
William Codling, Angus O’Loughlin, Tom Broderick, Reg Madden and Sean King will need to produce one more top performance against Unley Mercedes Jets to survive.
It is simple for Pembroke OS, which must overcome fifth-placed Sacred Heart OC to avoid demotion.
Fortunately for SHOC, an honourable 16-point loss to Henley hasn’t prevented the college old boys from continuing past this week and they have shown at times during the season that they won’t just be making up the numbers.
In not recording a favourable outcome against Gaza last week, the Jets are now unable to fly higher even if they defeat Scotch OC and Sacred Heart OC loses due to the considerable percentage gap.
It may not be the position most sides covet but Old Iggies could jump into sixth spot with victory over major finals contender Athelstone and a Jets’ loss.
However, after a comfortable 77-point win over Broadview, Angus Owen, Daniel Cluse, Aaron Stewart and Josh Sykes from the Raggies have too much to play for, giving them plenty of impetus to rise above their lower opposition at Hunter Park this week.
It has been such an unpredictable season so far that anything could still happen in the last minor round of fixtures which keeps interest high for a top afternoon of football on Saturday.