-By Nathan Dole
A CLASH between fourth and third-placed Bears-Lagoon Serpentine and Bridgewater highlights Saturday’s round 10 action in the Bendigo Bank Loddon Valley FNL senior footy action.
The Bears will be on home turf at Gadsden Finance Serpentine Reserve when the showdown with Bridgewater begins at 2.15pm.
In round one Bridgewater scored a 41-point win at home against the Bears.
Since then the Mean Machine has rolled on to a six-two record and is third on the ladder.
The Bears go into this match a win and almost nine per cent behind Bridgewater as both teams fight to hold a double chance at finals time.
The Jake Wilkinson-coached Bears had to fight hard for a 20-point win against Calivil United last round.
Massive test for the Bears defence in trying to limit the impact Bridgewater coach and gun forward Lachie Sharp has on this match.
The Bears do welcome back their brilliant forward Josh Mellington who has kicked 43 goals in five matches.
Key players for BLS include Callum Draper, Harry Gadsden, Justin Laird, Tyler Miles, Jarrod Starr and Nathan Twigg.
Bridgewater won last Saturday’s home game against Mitiamo by 13 goals.
Sharp kicked 10 goals in a best on ground performance as Luke Ellings, Harry McKinley and Jack Neylon were among the best.
Bridgewater’s squad includes Harry Conway, Ben Derrick, Josh Martyn, Harry and Jack Symons, and Darcy Wood.
The unbeaten Marong will be wary of a resurgent Inglewood when they meet at Jackal Oval in Marong’s Malone Park.
When these clubs met in round one it was Marong which kicked off its quest for a fourth consecutive premiership by scoring a 68-61 win at Inglewood’s Centre State Scaffolding Oval.
Marong’s hot run just keeps on rolling.
The Panthers won last Saturday’s home game against Newbridge by 14 goals.
Marong co-coach Kain Robins showed he is still a force to be reckoned with as he kicked seven goals in the team’s eighth win of the season.
The Panthers have the experienced Richard Tibbett, Ben and Corey Gregg, Shannon Geary, Shaun Knott and Matt Willox in their line-up.
Marong captain Nathan Devanny starts a two-match stint on the sidelines after an early guilty plea to striking against Newbridge.
After a nil-three start, Inglewood is now on a four-four tally and on the fifth rung.
The Fergus Payne-coached Blues start this round six points and more than 60 per cent clear of the Maiden Gully YCW Eagles in the fight for a finals berth.
Seb Erharter leads Inglewood’s attack on 42 goals in eight matches.
The Blues’ line-up bound for Marong includes Kai Cavallaro, Bregon Cotchett, Thomas Guerra, Thomas Kennedy, Liam Marciano and Keelan Payne.
Maiden Gully YCW Eagles will eye another four points and a chance to move within two points of the fifth-placed Inglewood.
The Eagles take on Calivil United this round at Marist College Oval in Maiden Gully.
Back in round one the Eagles and Demons were locked on 70-all when the final siren sounded at Calivil.
A key duel will be in the ruck where Eagles recruit Daniel Russell takes on Justin Hynes.
In the centre it will be Mitch Hill opposed to Dylan Goulding.
Key targets in the Maiden Gully YCW Eagles attack include Tyler James, Kyle Franzini, Ed Crisp and Tyson Jackson.
The Eagles are jointly coached by Shawn Filo, non-playing, and Angus Monfries, playing, but not in Saturday’s line-up.
Calivil United put in a great effort across the opening three quarters to lead 47-42 at the final charge at Gadsden Finance Serpentine Reserve last round.
The Demons could not halt the Bears run to score 3.8 to a point in the last.
Best for the Sam Maher-coached Calivil United were Ronan Sheehan, Rhys Lourie, Riley Walsh and Sam Green.
The Demons line-up includes former coach Anthony Dennis, Jake Lawry, Henry McCarthy and Tommi Raukola.
Pyramid Hill will be back on its turf at Mitchell Park to play Newbridge.
In round one the Nathan Fitzpatrick-coached Bulldogs marked a 52-point win at Deepcore Drilling Oval in Newbridge’s Riverside Park.
Defence has played a big part in the Hill’s winning streak the past three rounds.
The Bulldogs have kept their opponents to scores of 31 and 21 points the past two rounds.
Players to watch in the red, white and blue include Zach Alford, Ben Bisset, Kai Daniels, Bailey George, Mitch Langan and Lachlan Sidebottom.
Tough test for Newbridge which starts this round in seventh place on a two-six record.
The Matt McArthur-coached Maroons were up against Marong last round and now meet another of the competition’s powerhouses.
The play of Tyler Constable, Will Copland, Jackson Hufer, Dylan Lloyd, Caleb Sanders and Corey Van Aken will be vital to Newbridge’s plans to keep the heat on the Bulldogs in every quarter.
Newbridge on-baller Caleb Argus starts a two-match ban after an early guilty plea for rough conduct against the Panthers.
Argus was reprimanded on another rough conduct charge.
Mitiamo has the bye.
Loddon Valley senior footy ladder:
Marong 225 per cent, 32 points; Pyramid Hill 200, 28; Bridgewater 142, 24; Bears-Lagoon Serpentine 133, 20; Inglewood 131, 16; Maiden Gully YCW Eagles 69, 10; Newbridge 51, 8; Mitiamo 45, 4; Calivil United 40, 2.
Leading goalkickers:
53 Lachie Sharp, Bridgewater.
43 Josh Mellington, Bears-Lagoon Serpentine.
42 Seb Erharter, Inglewood.
36 Ben Bisset, Pyramid Hill.
26 Ryley Taylor, Marong.
22 Billy Schilling, Newbridge.
20 Kain Robins, Marong.
19 Ryan Semmel, Pyramid Hill.
17 Tyler James, Maiden Gully YCW Eagles.
17 Oscar McKinley, Bridgewater.
14 Zach Alford, Pyramid Hill.
14 Brayden Baines, Mitiamo.
13 Liam Marciano, Inglewood.
13 Farran Priest, Bears-Lagoon Serpentine.
12 Bregon Cotchett, Inglewood.
12 Oliver Watt, Bridgewater.
11 Daniel Polack, Inglewood.
10 Nathan Devanny, Marong.
10 Justin Laird, Bears-Lagoon Serpentine.