A SPECIAL occasion headlines the next round in ‘Paradise’ with the annual Dreamtime clash between the Tigers and Lions, kicking off with the men’s match.
Such is the magnitude of this occasion every year, the match almost exists outside the bounds of the ladder and the four points on offer.
Both teams will be desperate to put their best foot forward as an always appreciative crowd at ITEC watches on.
Anyone thinking of heading down should aim to get there around 2pm to witness one of the best pre-match ceremonies on offer. The match itself is lining up to be a thriller, with both teams on three wins, knowing this could be the tightest race for a top four spot Footy in Paradise has ever seen.
The main primetime slot belongs to the women’s fixture, and to raise the stakes even higher, it is the first rematch of the 2024 decider, which the Lions won to take home the premiership.
Three weeks ago, this was shaping up to be the battle of the two undefeated premiership favourites, but both sides have somewhat surprisingly lost to the upstart Bulldogs. Punters who head down to ITEC should be treated to an absolute treat of end-to-end footy. The combined percentage of these teams is a scarcely fathomable 721 per cent.
Centrals Trinity Beach Bulldogs vs Cairns Saints
WHEN objectively talking about the ladder, we have the rare occasion of two veritable eight-pointers in the men’s competitions in the same weekend.
This fixture sees the second place Bulldogs host the fifth placed Saints.
The Bulldogs will be looking to bounce back after losing to Tigers at home last week in their most disappointing match of a great start to the season, while the Saints will be looking to continue their irrepressible best form that saw them bounce back from an 89-point drubbing against Port to simply sweep away the Lions by 42 points. It is one of the biggest clichés in sport, but this one is just about impossible to pick.
The parallel fixture in the women’s game kicks off the day at Crathern.
The Bulldogs have well and truly sent a warning shot across the bow of the rest of the competition after they handled both of last year’s grand finalists in consecutive weeks. As the last unbeaten team in the comp, they will be looking to keep that streak going as long as possible.
Could they go undefeated? For the streak to end this weekend, the Saints would have to pull off an upset for the ages.
Still a young team, their job is less about the result as they continue to build a cohesive unit.
Last week aside, they are a stoic defensive team, they just need to continue to develop their forward craft.
In the only standalone game this weekend, the rested Hawks host the premiers.
As the Brisbane Lions are finding out in the main comp, teams save their best for when they play the premiers.
Hawks showed some very promising signs last time out against the Tigers, where they just lacked a clinical finish.
After a week off, and former Cutters’ premiership hero Alex Rogers’ first game against his former team, the Hawks should be raring to go.
The Cutters though will know that this is a fixture they simply cannot drop as they sit sixth on percentage.
Not many judges would have predicted this fixture to be the clash between the two bottom teams in the comp, and the Cutters will be itching to show their back-to-back credentials while four of the top five teams above them go to battle over the weekend and so tight is the comp, the Cutters could end the round in first.
