Women’s
THE women’s fixtures start off Footy in Paradise’s round 13, with all three games balling up at 11am.
Geographically working our way from the south, Port makes the long trek down to Fretwell Park to be entertained by the Cutters.
With Port firming for a maiden final’s appearance, they will be looking for a repeat of their round six match-up, where they left Fretwell as 36-point victors.
For the Cutters, they will be hoping this fixture provides some respite after a run of games against the top three teams; they have lost their last three games by a combined 176 points.
Moving north to Griffiths Park, the ever-improving Saints host the ladder leading Bulldogs.
It is fraught with danger to take too many positives out of a loss, but the Saints will rightfully have done just that after going down by just 18 points against the Tigers last week, a huge improvement on the 61-point loss they suffered in round four.
The Bulldogs are now the prohibitive favourite in the women’s comp and will look to deal with a young team in the way all contenders do.
With a team of so much class, the Dogs will be eyeing a bigger victory than the 39-point victory in round nine against the Saints, especially with three of the top five goalkickers in the comp in their forward line.
The game of the round sees last season’s grand finalists battle for second place after 11 games in a game that looks to be crucial in securing a double chance in the finals.
The Lions have more to lose in this one since a loss would put them two games back of the Tigers late in the season, but the Tigers know that the Lions have the percentage tiebreaker at this stage.
Both teams can go on big runs, as they showed against each other in a Dreamtime classic, where the Lions overturned a 16-point half-time margin to emerge victorious at the death. A must watch fixture.
Men’s
IN the men’s, the round kicks off with the Kris Seivers Memorial at Fretwell as the Cutters host the Hawks.
The Cutters, despite being reigning premiers, are a pretty new team this year and all their constituent parts are starting to coalesce nicely.
That will be more pleasing than their second-place ladder position, since they will have the belief that with the team firing, they can win it from anywhere.
For the Hawks, it is a chance to bounce back after a tough day in Port Douglas that could be seen as a step back after some promising performances around the all-star break.
At Griffiths Park, the fifth-placed Saints host the fourth-placed Bulldogs for a good old fashioned eight-pointer, with the victor ending the round entrenched in the top four.
The Dogs enter the clash after a great start to the season but experiencing a slight skid with one win in their last three, while the Saints will be wishing they could play last season’s grand finalists every week after another close win over the Tigers.
Last time out, the Dogs claimed the points at Crathern Park, winning by 24.
The round concludes at Watson’s Oval, as the Tigers look to bounce back again after a shock close loss to the Saints.
Entering the weekend in third, the Tigers will still have a great desire to end the season in second, securing the all-important double chance.
They know that their task will not be easy as they face a truly desperate Lions team, who have just about entered do-or-die territory for season 2025.
A loss would extend the Lions recent record to one win in eight and leave them two wins out of the top four with six rounds left.
