Every BFNL finals contender’s run home

WITH five rounds remaining in the BFNL A-grade netball home and away season, the race to finals is set to intensify.

While perennial powerhouses Kangaroo Flat, Sandhurst and Gisborne have already booked their passage, and with South Bendigo expected to lock in its spot this weekend, plenty of interest centres on the battle for fifth spot.

Just one win separates Eaglehawk and Strathfieldsaye from Golden Square on the ladder, ahead of an almost season-defining clash between the Hawks and Storm at Tannery Lane this Saturday.

Take a look at the run home for each club and what might lie ahead over the next few weeks.

KANGAROO FLAT

Ladder: Top

Win-loss: 12–0

Last five: WWWWW

Last round: Defeated Broadford 106–16.

Remaining games: v Sandhurst (h); v Golden Square (a); bye; v South Bendigo (h).

Key game ahead: v Sandhurst this Saturday. If the Roos can get past their closest ladder rival for a second time this season, they will be odds-on to finish the home and away season undefeated. The margin earlier this season against the Dragons was 10 goals in round 5, with players missing from both teams. Otherwise, the Roos are in great shape as they chase back-to-back flags for the first time since 2009–10.

Prediction: Minor premiers for the second straight season.

 

SANDHURST

Ladder: Second.

Win-loss: 10–1

Last five: WWWWW

Last weekend: Defeated Golden Square 70–49.

Remaining games: v Kangaroo Flat (a); v South Bendigo (h); v Strathfieldsaye (a); v Gisborne (h); v Castlemaine (a).

Key clash ahead: v Kangaroo Flat this Saturday. If the Dragons can do what no team has been able to do in the last two years and beat the Roos, they will remain an outside chance of taking top spot ahead of finals, with both sides sitting on one loss, albeit with the Roos currently enjoying a significant percentage advantage. Gisborne, in round 17, looms as a potential stumbling block. Nevertheless, a nice preparation for finals, with fourth-placed South Bendigo also on their list of remaining games.

Prediction: Second and a first-up finals showdown against Gisborne in a repeat of last year’s qualifying final.

GISBORNE

Ladder: Third.

Win-loss: 8–3

Last five: WWLWL

Last weekend: Bye.

Remaining games: v Castlemaine (h); v Eaglehawk (a); v Broadford (h); V Sandhurst (a); v Golden Square (h).

Key clash ahead: v Sandhurst in round 17. The Bulldogs should hang on to the double chance in what we now know will be their Bendigo league swansong, but they would no doubt love to have at least one win over the two top sides going into finals. Their chance has come and gone against Kangaroo Flat, but a chance exists against the Dragons at the QEO on 14 August. The margin was four goals the Dragons’ way in round 8.

Prediction: Third and a second crack at Sandhurst in three weeks in the first week of finals.

SOUTH BENDIGO

Ladder: Fourth

Win-loss: 7–4

Last five: LWLWL

Last round: Lost to Eaglehawk 60–75.

Remaining games: v Broadford (h); v Sandhurst (a); v Golden Square (h); v Kangaroo Flat (a); bye.

Key clash ahead: A win as early as next week against Broadford would likely lock-in finals for the Bloods, but with ambitions of upsetting a top three team on the way there still flickering, a round 15 clash at the QEO against Sandhurst shapes as the best of their two remaining hopes.

Prediction: Fourth spot and a crack at a second straight elimination final.

 

EAGLEHAWK

Ladder: Fifth.

Win-loss: 5–7

Last five: WLWLW

Last round: Defeated South Bendigo 75–60.

Remaining games: v Strathfieldsaye (a); v Gisborne (h); v Castlemaine (a); bye; v Broadford (h).

Key clash ahead: v Strathfieldsaye this Saturday. A win would be both a major boost to the Hawks’ own hopes of finals and a dent in the Storm’s. Just one goal separated the two teams when they met at Canterbury Park earlier in the season in a match won by the Storm, after the Hawks had led for the bulk of the contest. Castlemaine and Broadford in rounds 16 and 18 loom as likely wins.

Prediction: Fifth. Recent form, including a gallant effort two weeks ago against the ladder leaders, has been sound and hard to see them missing if they make amends against the Storm this weekend.

STRATHFIELDSAYE

Ladder: Sixth

Win-loss: 5–6

Last five played: WLLLW

Last round: Defeated Castlemaine 44–38.

Remaining games: v Eaglehawk (h); v Broadford (a); v Sandhurst (h); v Golden Square (a); v Kangaroo Flat (h).

Key clash ahead: v Eaglehawk this Saturday. For all the reasons outlined above for the Hawks, the same applies to the Storm. Another win over the Hawks gives them a handy one-game break with four games remaining, with the Storm to start as favourites in two of their other games against Broadford and Golden Square. The Storm beat the Bulldogs in their earlier season game by eight goals.

Prediction: Sixth. A win over Eaglehawk changes the outlook considerably. Finals or not, an abundance of promising signs from the Storm’s young troop this season.

GOLDEN SQUARE

Ladder: Seventh

Win-loss: 4–8

Last five played: LWLWL

Last round: Lost to Sandhurst 49–70.

Remaining games: Bye; v Kangaroo Flat (h); v South Bendigo (a); v Strathfieldsaye (h); v Gisborne (a).

Key clashes ahead: v Kangaroo Flat in round 15 (1 August); v South Bendigo in round 16 (8 August). There are easier assignments, seven of them in fact, than the Roos, but with likely wins remaining on Eaglehawk and Strathfieldsaye’s schedule, the Bulldogs are in a position where they will need to win at least three of if not all of their last four games to reach finals, especially with a bye this weekend. If the young and developing Bulldogs can match last weekend’s intensity and effort against Sandhurst, there’s no reason why they won’t have an upset on their mind when they play South Bendigo on 8 August.

Prediction: Seventh, but a creditable seventh. Toughest run home of all three contenders for the last spot, but impressed by the development of their young players this season.