EDFL 2018: Aberfeldie, Keilor, Strathmore and Greenvale to contest Premier Division finals
THE top four is settled with one round remaining in Essendon District Football League Premier Division after Aberfeldie ended Maribyrnong Park’s season.
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THE top four is set with one round remaining in Essendon District Football League Premier Division after Aberfeldie ended Maribyrnong Park’s season on Saturday.
Abers dominated from the first bounce to score a 53-point triumph and join Keilor, Strathmore and Greenvale in finals.
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That trio is locked on 13 wins, while Aberfeldie has 12 victories and a draw, meaning the combatants for the major semi-final and elimination final are yet to be finalised.
Abers and Strathmore will meet in a bumper clash next weekend, while Keilor will meet Avondale Heights and Greenvale will face Essendon Doutta Stars.
General consensus suggests the premiership race is wide open, a view shared by Aberfeldie co-coach Luke Blackwell.
“It’s very even this year. I think anyone in that top four can win it,” Blackwell said.
“They’ve all got some absolute quality players.”
The reigning premier appears to be rolling at the right time, posting four consecutive wins since an uncharacteristic 45-point loss to the Blues in Round 13.
Blackwell described that defeat as “a bit of a kick in the pants”, but with Ryan Allan set to tackle Strathmore and Sam Cattapan playing two games in the reserves since returning from overseas, Abers is gradually assembling a full-strength squad to pick from.
“Hopefully we’ve tweaked a couple of things structurally and we’re heading in the right direction,” Blackwell said.
“Having Maribyrnong Park and Strathmore the last two games coming into finals is probably a good thing. You’re playing very competitive teams.
“Hopefully we can get the job done next week and go from there.”
Josh Cubillo, Josh Toy, Jacob Craven and Nick Cattapan spearheaded Aberfeldie’s 15.13 (103) to 7.8 (50) victory over Maribyrnong Park as the former ladder-leader dropped to sixth after a fifth loss in a row.
The visitors booted nine goals to one in the first half to kill the contest in wet conditions.
“Our contested footy, we really focused on that with the conditions,” Blackwell said.
“Their ground is a bit narrower compared to other grounds, so we just focused on winning the footy in close and just getting it forward and setting up from there.”
Elsewhere, an inaccurate Strathmore knocked off Essendon Doutta Stars by 16 points, while Greenvale toppled Keilor by 11 points.
Pascoe Vale hammered Glenroy by 13 goals to extend its winning run to four games.
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