Has there been a season so hotly contested in this history of SL1 than Season 2007? Has there been more controversy and questions asked of the system in years? It’s certainly no secret that 2007 was a remarkable year for the 10 teams in State League 1 Mens; the difference between 5th and the 9th relegation spot a mere 4 points. If memory serves us correctly, Camberwell, TEM, Essendon and Altona were battling to both avoid relegation and grab a spot in the four in Round 18. Crazy. As history will tell us, all this hooplah and nerves were put to rest in the first game of Round 18 when Doncaster won, snaring them them the prized fourth position, while Essendon lost to Aaron Kleinschmidt.
And so we stand on the cusp of Season 2008, with two new teams up, and a star-studded Essendon residing to battle it out for a SL2 premiership. What lies ahead for the 10 teams in this Olympic year? Ben & Ballza have again donned their gypsy outfits and gazed into their Crystal ball to reveal the following truths…undeniable, unequivocal truths.
No siree, you won’t be seeing us gypsy blokes on A Current Affair defending our honesty…we’re the real deal. Lump it or Loath it.
Greensborough. Greensborough, Greensborough, Greensborough. What will we do with you? What can you say about a team who boast as a formidable lineup as the boys from Yan Yean Road. They seem to breed Vikings out there. Highly-skilled, super professional boasting a killer knockout punch, the Greensborough boys will be hard to beat in 2008…just for something different. Led by super-coach and super cliche-user Jim Irvine, the ‘Borough boys will be looking to build on their already epic empire. With the catchment area at their disposal, it won’t be long till we start seeing some in-breeding and a new sort of “super player” will be born. God help the rest of us.
Hawthorn always seem to perform year after year. Despite pre-season nerves bowing out to MCC in the first round of The Hockey Show Cup, the Hawkers will welcome Josh Hawes back to their list to join a very experienced lineup. Him, along with Charlie Tulloch returning will add some solidarity to their lineup to build their plays around. With Vikings backup goalie and “heir apparent” (quote – Stephen Mowlam) George Bazeley in the net, the Hawthorn boys will be tough to beat especially at home. The flip side, is an older list with little hope of blooding younger players. It’s no secret that the Hawkers have an absolutely rubbish junior program and have ran themselves into a bit of a corner. Hawthorn are a club in need of rejuvenation, and with Andrew “Dos” Aldons returning as coach he will be hoping that the Hawks can put their terrible finals hoodoo behind them…again…please…come on…do it…just once…see how you go…it feels nice. Don’t choke.
Waverley will again be a force to be reckoned with. Experience, backed by new coach Brett Thompson implementing the tried and true methods of “do as i say, not as i did” see Waverley raring to go. Surprisingly fit and serious this time around, the Waverley boys will be out to crush teams. If given a sniff, they pounce…(how very Panther like), but if they’re dominated from the outset they will can crumble. The Wav’s have to start blooding some younger players this year, and the absence of Travis Brooks and Luke Doerner due to both picking up nasty chopstick habits should provide plenty of opportunity. A definate Top 4 team, will just be a matter of which spot they want the most.
Doncaster will be buoyed by last years performance where they scraped into the 4 by a bee’s dick. This year is a different story with both Andrew Smith and Russell Ford sure to miss a truckload of games over in Perth and hopefully Beijing. It’s time for blokes like Rhys Hanna & Brad David (two first names) to step up and prove themselves while Chris Cirello – provided he doesn’t spend too much time in the change rooms grooming himself pre-game, will be a lynch pin. Coach Cam Muir had a stellar first year out in 07, and will feel confident he can make the most out of his list – provided they all don’t end up in hospital with some form of weird skin irritant condition from the bacteria growing on their ground at last check. HOWEVER! – If the Man Mountain Smitty and Rusty come back for the Donny boys, they are serious contenders for a Top 4 finish.
TEM. Never a shrinking violet and never short of a word, the TEM lads will be out to prove the doubters wrong in 2008. A couple of handy pickups in Brenton Perry and Steve Dempster will see the TEM boys strengthen their midfield and defensive lines respectively, while word on the street is that some of the Dandenong SL2 boys have decided that the merger between Dandenong and SNP leaves no room for fisticuffs and have packed up and moved to the Lions Den also. All these trades push to one side however, with the youngest coach in living memory appointed to lead the TEM chargers this season. Phil Merriman, a former Camberwell SL1 player will start his State League coaching career at the tender age of 26 and has it all in front of him. A disciplined approach could see a massive year for the TEM boys, but with weaker opposition coming up from SL2 they should be confident of their chances to stay up if they put it all together on game day.
Camberwell had a disappointing 2007 with many punters predicting them to be certain challengers for the premiership. After failing to win the must win games and dropping points unexpectedly, a new ethos has been pumped into the boys and the club for 2008. With their robotic like pre-season fitness routine, the ‘Weller boys should be ultra-fit come round 1, but at what cost? Relatively injury free at the moment, it will be an interesting test for some of the older guys to remain that way. Vikings Declan Geraghty, Will Unkles and Lachie Gibson will be crucial to the success for the Blue & Tangerine this year as will Lachie Dreher fronting up for his 22nd consecutive season of State League at the tender age of 41! These experienced heads combined with some exciting new talent at Matlock, will see coach Andrew ‘Rosie’ Henderson’s boys utilize their tailor made nutrition plans and carbo-gel shots at half time to reach their full potential. They run the risk however that perhaps this new age of professionalism bubble may burst by a strange phobia of hitting at the goals.
MCC begin the year with new coach Jarrod Lester up against it trying to work out what he does with men who’s hair is going grey who still want to play State League 1. With the oldest list going around and no Juniors coming through the ranks, this will be a testing year for the Demons. Main man PJ Weller will again be the key, but with this more than likely being his last year the answer is what to do next? Having lost up and coming goalie Steve Dempster to TEM and conceding 10 goals in The Hockey Show Cup semi-final to Greensborough, one feels that MCC may have shot themselves in the foot. Ben and Ballza think that the Dee’s may have one more roll at the dice with this current crop of players, before they will have to take a leaf out of the TEM poaching book for the years ahead.
Altona scraped through by the skin of their teeth last year avoiding relegation, but showed plenty of seagull spirit throughout the year pinching points off higher fancied opposition. With Darren Duff taking over the reigns as coach and a good group of youth and experience, mean the A’s have every chance this year to consolidate their position in the middle of the table. Not quite a Top 4 team at the minute, but extremely capable of knocking off tough opponents. With Viking elder statesmen Matthew Higgins moving to the country, the A’s will be surely forking out his petrol money to get him back to the big smoke on the weekends. The most important player in their lineup, we feel that they may be lost without him and need to find someone as a reliable backup. Further, both Greg Drake and Higgo will be heading to Beijing to check out the goings on, so Altona will need to get runs on the board early to contend with this. All this said though, is there a team that relishes the underdog tag as much as the boys from the west…and is there a more feared away fixture than “The Snakepit”?
Kew feel like they’ve come up just as quickly as they’ve gone down. The only problem is that the list remains almost entirely the same last time we saw them in SL1 minus superstar and former Kew favourite son Tom Allen having moved to Camberwell in 07 and staying there. It will be good to see Pete Bunting running around again, but the vertical stripes won’t hide the few KG’s he’s put on after a year off. No doubt this will be a challenging year for the ‘Cumbers, but perhaps with the odd point pinched here and there, the familiar catch cry of…“YOU CAN DO IT KEW!” may be heard on the odd occasion.
Albury-Wodonga. At last report, without a coach as Dennis Martin has stepped down after a long tenure. . . could be a long year. . .
THE FINAL WORD
Again, the same mathematical processes have been applied by Ben & Ballza to determining the outcome of Season 2008.
Greensborough again will be an unstoppable force, but will drop games to lower ranked opposition due to a lack of respect shown by the Kookaburras. Waverley will be their main opposition demolishing teams by big margins, while perhaps also losing low scoring encounters. Hawthorn will accumulate points quietly to finish again well and truly in the four with P.Mac controlling the centre like never before with a more aerodynamic hairstyle. Assuming all our Victorian boys make the Olympic squad, Doncaster will find it tough without Smith and Ford and won’t make the finals this year. Camberwell, on the balance of probabilities will make the four. They will need to improve their scoring rates and utilise a more attacking style to get there however.
Doncaster will finish outside the four, but only just. They will feel confident that their year has been a great exercise in proving to themselves that they can do it without the big guns. TEM will finish 6th and exceed other teams expectations. New coach Merriman will have a testing year, put under the microscope by the team at THS, but will come out better for the experience. MCC will scrape enough points from hard fought draws and the odd win to finish seventh, only just from a 7th placed Altona, unless they pick up those early points. Kew will struggle greatly, and Albury will do a lot of traveling for not much reward, but at least those nights out in the big smoke will make up for it.
Round 18 Ladder
Greensborough
Hawthorn
Waverley
Camberwell
Doncaster
TEM
MCC
Altona
Kew
Albury-Wodonga
So if you think we’re wrong…go on…doubt us…do it, we dare you…make sure you enter The Hockey Show’s tipping competition so you can beat us both senseless.
This is the gospel according to Ben & Ballza.
Boom.
The 2008 Hockeyroo pre-olympic squad for Beijing was announced today and it’s super-dooper to see 3 Victorians in the mix.
Greensborough Hockey Club fired the first salvo of the year across the bows of the Victorian State League One competition when their Men and Women completed the double in the inaugural Hockey Show Cup final.
As the Kookaburra’s commence their Olympic preparations over in Perth, Russell Ford, last weekend received an early set back on his road to Beijing. During a training session over the weekend Rusty rolled his ankle, which he’d previously injured during the AHL series.
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