Adelaide Footy League: The Norwood Hotel Division 1 Round 5 preview
THE top division of amateur footy continues to be harder to pick than a broken nose as surprise results continue to appear each week.
THE top division of amateur footy continues to be harder to pick than a broken nose as surprise results continue to appear each week.
Just take Goodwood and Payneham’s result last week – The Saints and Falcons could not be separated at the final whistle, fighting out an epic draw.
This game ebbed and flowed and was a pleasure to watch.
From my vantage point it was Jordan Pinto who was most damaging for Goodwood while Payneham’s best was Dylan Auciello, who took more than a dozen marks in a best afield display.
The Saints now confront Modbury after the Hawks defeated the previously unbeaten Port District by 19 points.
Blake Marshall was their chief contributor and he was well supported by Michael Bennett. Modbury is a real chance to announce itself if it gets a third win in a row at home against a highly fancied Goodwood unit.
The job gets no easier for PNU as it heads to Pertaringa Oval to face the undefeated Tea Tree Gully, which notched up a brilliant come from behind 24 point win over Prince Alfred Old Collegians in their replay of last year’s division one grand final, which the Old Reds won.
Thomas Bielby has reached top form for Gullies and joined the familiar names of the Schoenmaker brothers and Peter Persinos in the best players.
They will headline a mouth-watering midfield battle that will feature PNU stars Josh Donahue, Matthew Brunoli and captain John Giannini.
Whoever wins the midfield battle is likely to take home the points.
Rostrevor flexed its muscles and finally started a game with a bang, kicking the first six goals. ROC would run out 53-point winners over St Peter’s Old Collegians on the back of a great Luke Allen game.
Their opponents this week, Salisbury North, had a disappointing loss to Adelaide University despite the best efforts of Jake Wagner.
ROC looks the more consistent and dangerous side and I would expect it to have a win.
St. Peters Old Collegians will be desperate for their first win when they host PAOC.
Harry Cudmore was a genuine threat last week but a lift across the board is required if they are to cause a boil over against the 2016 premiers.
PAOC will get the chocolates.
Port District hosts Adelaide Uni and will be keen to make amends for their first loss.
They Magpies will be looking to curtail the influence of Damian Cunningham and will be wary of the shared workload of Uni, which had 10 individual goal scorers last week.
This is a battle of two teams who will be fighting for one of the finals spots and both clubs will be well aware this is a must win game.