Warriors bleed Aquinas dry, Gryphons hold on

Glen Eira booked their place in Division 2 for 2019, the week off & the Division 3 Grand Final with a one-point win in a thriller against Hawthorn AFC. The Hawks kept the Gryphons to a solitary behind in the last quarter, with Glen Eira clinging on in a tense finish. Going into the main break 20 points up in a relatively low scoring tussle and then extending their lead to 34 points, the Gryphons were then challenged by the Hawks, who kicked 4.10 in the second half and will rue missed opportunities. Reports out of the game are that Glen Eira may have a couple of injury concerns, however hopefully the week break can give the Gryphons under these clouds ample time to recover. No such luck for the Hawks who have to back it up today in a cut-throat Preliminary Final.

The Bloods magic run came to an end with Westbourne peppering the goals to register a 36 point win on Sunday. The Warriors defensive set up was exemplary, keeping Aquinas to one-goal for the first half and scoreless for the second quarter, however errant kicking kept the Bloods in the contest, going in to the main break 21 points ahead. Aquinas wrestled their way to only trail by nine points at the final change, with Westbourne starting to wonder whether their missed opportunities would come back to haunt them. However the side that was dubbed the Truganina Train steamrolled the Bloods in the last quarter, kicking 5.11 to run away with the victory and book their place in today’s Preliminary Final.

PREVIEW

Preliminary Final – Hawthorn AFC v Westbourne Grammarians

PREVIOUS MEETINGS

Round 1

Hawthorn AFC 18.15.123 def Westbourne Grammarians 11.21.87

Hawthorn Goalkickers: R. Ogge 7, A. Downie 4, B. Johnston 2, J. Raiti 2, M. Olson, T. Matheson, D. Johnston

Hawthorn Best: B. Johnston, N. Raiti, J. Ridley, R. Ogge, A. Downie

Westbourne Grammarians Goalkickers: A. Eqbal 5, A. Bahtiri 4, B. Miller 2

Westbourne Best: P. O”Brien, M. Culliver, D. Stoios, A. Eqbal, A. Fleming

Round 17

Westbourne Grammarians 12.19.91 def Hawthorn AFC 10.11.71

Westbourne Grammarians Goalkickers: D. Collins 3, C. Hudson 2, C. Hunter 2, A. Bahtiri 2, A. Eqbal, D. Knight, J. Russell

Westbourne Grammarians Best: J. Porter, C. Sneddon, A. Imber, P. O”Brien, J. Russell, D. White

Hawthorn Goalkickers: S. Wintle 4, M. Olson, D. Bye, R. Ogge, N. Raiti, J. Ridley, T. Matheson

Hawthorn Best: R. Ogge, J. Raiti, S. Gheller, L. Zeschke, T. Boots, N. Raiti

 THE CASE FOR HAWTHORN AFC

The Hawks were inches away from knocking off the standout side in the competition last week, further emphasising that their best is equal to any in the division. A return to Division 2 and another crack at the Gryphons is the prize at the final siren today. Kicking 9.14 last week, accuracy in front of goal will be at the forefront of both sides coming into this week, but the Hawks will take the knowledge that keeping Glen Eira to two goals in the second half into this match-up, knowing they can keep the Warriors to a manageable score. Looking through who performed last week for the Hawks, there are winners across every line, and you cannot disregard the class Hawthorn possess, which took them to 2^nd on the ladder and within a solitary point of Glen Eira.  

THE CASE FOR WESTBOURNE GRAMMARIANS

To put it simply, they are good enough to knock off Hawthorn. With absolutely no disrespect to Aquinas, looking at the results between the top three sides, and the evenness of all three against each other, you can pick a winner on any day which created a gap to the rest of the competition. If the Warriors can rectify kicking 9.25 as they did against the Bloods, they have the scoring capacity to kick a score against the Hawks. Defensively, they were impressive last week and will give the Hawthorn coaching staff plenty to think about coming into this week’s preliminary final. Dale Collins has kicked 12 goals in the last three weeks and is form to take the Warriors into Division 2 in 2019 and a grand final. Westbourne got the chocolates in their last encounter, and also have defeated Glen Eira in the second half of the season, they are definitely more than challengers in this season.