IT’S the Hawks against the Cats in this Saturday’s 10th round of senior footy in the Bendigo Bank Heathcote DFNL season.
The Harlowe Huntly Hawks take on Lockington Bamawm United from 2.30pm at Huntly’s Strauch Reserve.
Victory would strengthen the Hawks place in the top three.
A six-two record has the Hawks in third place.
The Hamish Morcom-coached Huntly starts this round a win clear of Mount Pleasant which will play at Heathcote’s Pigeon Park.
One of Huntly’s defeats was to the Jayden Howe-coached LBU in round one.
A night game between the Cats and Hawks at Lockington’s Nichol Trading Oval ended in an 83-75 win for LBU.
Huntly’s on a four-match winning streak in which it beat Mount Pleasant at Toolleen by two points in round seven and a week later beat Colbinabbin in the Hawks’ nest by a point.
Best for Huntly in last Saturday’s win at Pigeon Park in Heathcote’s Barrack Reserve were key forward Sam Dunstan, Mitch Billings and Darby Walsh across half-back, and Riley Beard.
A Hawks attack that includes Lachy Wilson, Jacob Greenwood, Joseph Artavilla and Abe Sladden will test the Cats all match.
Lockington Bamawm United takes momentum into this contest.
The Cats clawed their way from 15 points down at the start of the final term to win last Saturday’s game against White Hills at Lockington by 14 points.
Bart Phillips and Jack Reiter led LBU’s attack on four goals each.
Key players for LBU include dual Cheatley medallist and ruckman Tyler Phillips, co-captains Brodie Collins and Brock Kennedy, Stuart Taylor and Jack O’Callaghan.
The eight points Elmore finished within North Bendigo in round one is the best by any rival in the Bulldogs’ unbeaten run.
The Nathan Kay-coached Elmore is back on home turf to play North Bendigo this Saturday.
As Elmore had the bye last round North Bendigo marked a 21-point win against Leitchville Gunbower at Leitchville.
Another big test for the Bloods who have a three-five record and are in sixth place.
Key players for Elmore include captain Rhys Holmberg at centre half-back, Matt O’Dwyer and James Harney in attack, Zack Holmberg and Luke Price on the wings.
A Bloods’ defence that includes Cobi Fitzpatrick, Joseph Harney and Phil Smith faces a huge task.
Although it dominated a lot of the play against the Bloods in round one, North Bendigo’s score of 10.26 almost proved costly.
The Bulldogs won a hard-fought clash with LG Bombers last round as triple premiership player Jordan Ford, Bailey Cain, co-coach Ryan Hartley and Cody Riddick led the way.
A strong team which has Rob Bennett as non-playing co-coach includes Nic Waterson, Ryan Alford, captain Aarryn Craig, Callum Tardrew and Will Gilmore.
It’s the rematch of the ’24 grand finalists as Leitchville Gunbower faces the Winslow Constructors White Hills Demons in Gunbower.
The Shannon Keam-coached LG Bombers kicked off the ’25 campaign by scoring a 38-point win under the Scott Street lights in White Hills in round one.
Victory for Leitchville Gunbower is likely to give last season’s runner-up a six-point buffer to Elmore and LBU in the race for a top-five finish.
Best for the Bombers against North Bendigo last round were Max Hagan, Will Brereton, Nic Cattapan and ruckman Jobee Warde.
The Leitchville Gunbower team includes Bryce Barnstable, Joel Donehue, Jett Keam, Chris Horman and Austin Windridge.
White Hills looked a strong chance to mark win number two as it led by almost three goals at three quarter-time in last Saturday’s match at Lockington.
The Demons could not halt the Cats’ charge to victory in the last term.
Midfielder Patrick Eefting capped a superb match for the red and black with seven goals.
A key for the Demons will be setting up and capitalising on enough chances to challenge the Bombers.
In-form players for White Hills include Dustin Crawford, Jake Dickens, Mitch Dole and ruckman Jack Lawton.
A Demons’ line-up coached by Ben Taylor, playing, and Brad McConnell, non-playing, includes Seth Boyd, Liam Monaghan, Jake Dickens and Nick Wharton.
Facing a Mount Pleasant team on the rebound from defeat adds another level of pressure for Heathcote.
The Heathcote Saints will be on their turf in Pigeon Park to play the Blues.
In round one it was Mounts which dominated in a 169-55 victory at Colbinabbin’s M.J. Morgan Oval.
It was a memorable start to the coaching debut of on-baller Josh Hann who has teamed up with Adam Baird and Cam Carter to coach Mounts this season.
At Heathcote it’s Andrew Saladino and Liam Jacques who are guiding the club through a tough run.
Injuries have hit Heathcote hard.
Those on the sidelines include Jacques who will not play again this season after the Cheatley medallist broke a foot at Elmore.
For the Saints a major goal is “game time” for the younger members of the squad and working to be as competitive as they can be.
Heathcote played well to be within two points of Huntly at half-time of last Saturday’s match at Pigeon Park.
By the final siren the Hawks led by 37 points.
Key targets in Heathcote’s attack are Dylan Johnstone, Ibrahim Taha and Zak Saad.
The Saints will look to Rhys Bolton, Daniel Johnstone, Codie Price and ruckman Aaron Gundry to win plenty of contests.
Mount Pleasant dropped to the fourth rung after a 16-point loss at Colbinabbin last round.
In a match where defences were on top it was on-baller Jack Hickman who was the Blues leading goalkicker on two.
A Mount Pleasant line-up which includes co-captains Chris Down and William Wallace in defence, Joey Bell, Jesse Tuohey, Brodie Montague and Mitch Rovers is likely to be too strong.
Key forwards Mitch Bennett and Brodie Leonard-Shannon will look to boost their season tallies of 30 and 16 goals.
Colbinabbin has the bye.
Heathcote DFNL senior footy ladder:
North Bendigo 251 per cent, 32 points; Colbinabbin 189, 24; Huntly 102, 24; Mount Pleasant 159, 20; Leitchville Gunbower 96, 14; Elmore 76, 12; Lockington Bamawm United 73, 12; White Hills 46, 4; Heathcote 58, 2.
Leading goalkickers:
33 Sam Dunstan, Huntly.
30 Mitch Bennett, Mount Pleasant.
26 Brandyn Grenfell, Colbinabbin.
24 Cody Riddick, North Bendigo.
21 Jake Dean, North Bendigo.
19 Dylan Johnstone, Heathcote.
19 Dylan Klemm, North Bendigo.
18 Alex Carr, Colbinabbin.
18 Nick Knight, Colbinabbin.
18 Darcy Richards, North Bendigo.
16 James Harney, Elmore.
16 Brodie-Leonard-Shannon, Mount Pleasant.
14 Zak Saad, Heathcote.
13 Chris Horman, Leitchville Gunbower.
13 Jack Reiter, Lockington Bamawm United.
13 Abe Sladden, Huntly.
12 Billy Hawken, Leitchville Gunbower.
12 Jack Hickman, Mount Pleasant.
12 Lachy Wilson, Huntly.
11 Liam Dillon, North Bendigo.
11 Cohen Kekich, White Hills.
10 Matt O’Dwyer, Elmore.
9 Ryan Hartley, North Bendigo.
9 Jackson Jones, Heathcote.
9 Nathan Kay, Elmore.
9 Thomas Leech, Lockington Bamawm United.