EVERY season there seems to be a club that experiences the growing pains of early defeats against quality opposition and this year that team looks like it's Bacchus Marsh.
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The Cobras sit 1-2 from their three matches so far, a win over Lake Wendouree, but narrow losses to early-season pace setters Ballarat and Darley, who incidentally play each other this week in the match of the round, have left first season coach Dennis Armfield frustrated.
This week for Bacchus Marsh, it's another contest against a team that they should see themselves on a par with in Sunbury. A win will be seen as a great result, but a competitive loss won't raise any alarm bells. Although, according to the coach, it should.
"It's game like these as to why we're in the competition," Armfield said. "You've got to show up every week and if you're a percentage of two off, it's the difference between a win and a loss.
"We found out last week, you can't give good teams and a start and expect to come back and win. We learned a lot about our inside 50 connection, it wasn't up to scratch early days.
"When we want to defend and decide we want to be hard to play against, we've shown we can keep last year's premiers to just three goals in a half of football.
"We know we are going to have ebbs and flows, it's about keeping the momentum and when you lose it, slow them down and we're still learning that skill."
Last season when these two sides matched-up, the Cobras got the job done by two points a thriller, but this season Sunbury looks like one of the side's to beat under the guidance of Matt White.
White said his team would likely head in with an unchanged line-up after the big win over Melton South two weeks ago. He said Bacchus Marsh would provide the sternest of test's this week,
"I 100 per cent agree they are a much better side than 1-2," he said. "I went had a look at them against Darley, there's a lot to like about them.
"The ruck-mid duo are very strong and we know they can put a score on the board as they did in the last quarter.
"Whatever Dennis is doing down there, he's got them firing at the moment, it'll be a huge challenge on their own deck."
White said knowing his team had the early bye meant the club had set itself for a big opening two games.
"We played a match directly before round one against Gisborne," he said.
"We then trained on Thursday morning and we had another session on the Saturday and got straight back into a lot of hitting bodies and footy work on Tuesday to make sure we were right for a huge match this weekend."
While the Cobras and Lions will square off, the match-of-the-round is at Alfredton with Darley travelling to play Ballarat.
The improvement shown out of Ballarat has been the story of the season so far. The Swans sit 3-0 and have deserved their wins, the defensive performance against Lake Wendouree last weekend was a sight to behold, only conceding two goals for the match, both late in the last quarter.
Darley remains a bit of a mystery. Is their form what they showed against East Point in round one? Or are they closer to what they showed when they gave up most of a 40-point against Bacchus Marsh? Or is it somewhere in between like we saw in the contested slog against North Ballarat?
Devils coach Dan Jordan is just as keen to see what his side will bring to the table this week in foreign territory.
"We were a bit disappointed with how we finished last week, we had a couple of boys with some knocks, so we might have been a little heavy in legs, but no excuse, Bacchus Marsh got a run on us and we were lucky to get the job done," he said.
"Ballarat are playing some great footy, I think it was the game against Redan we can look at most, but obviously their defence is right on, I don't think Lake Wendouree scored until late last week, so to me that's pretty comprehensive.
"Their young guys have had another year into them, there's some real quality and they're well coached, it's going to be a challenge for us for sure."
Ballarat coach Chris Maple said this would be the acid test for his team.
"We're looking forward to it," he said. "I look at what Darley did last week and you've got to remember they were well in control of the game at half time, maybe they took the foot off the pedal a bit.
"For us, the key will be to match the contested footy. They are strong in that area, they've got a quality midfield so we'll have to at least match them in that area."
The Darley midfield has been in scintillating form with Henderson Medalist Brett Bewley picking up 13 of a possible 15 votes.
Maple said he would discuss with his coaching team about how to combat the Devils midfield, but stopped short of suggesting a tag could be in order.
"We haven't worked that out yet," he said. "Some clubs look at it, we haven't because the past 12 months we've been in the mode of teaching young blokes to play rather than stop opposition.
"We certainly look at good players in every team and how we can combat them. It's always a dilemma to do that because it takes away something from your team, we'll see how it plays out."Ba
Another game that looks close on paper is the clash between Redan and Sebastopol. While it is only early in the season, for the loser it's a 1-3 start and it already seems a long way back.
Redan coach Gary Learmonth said he expected an even contest.
"We know they'll come to play," he said. "We saw some good signs last week and we feel that we've got a few things we still need to clean up, but overall I thought we were pretty good.
"We'll lose two to the Coates League, Taj Bond will go back to the Pioneers and Harry Lawson will go to the Rebels.
"We don't have a ruckman that will come in, so that will be a challenge for us."
Sebastopol coach Tony Lockyer said despite the disappointing result against East Point last week, he saw plenty of good signs that his team was turning things around.
"From the outside looking in, I can see how some would be concerned with our form, but internally we can see the improvement," he said.
"The contested work was really good, we're looking to make another step this week.
"We've had a big focus on our ball movement this week because it really broke down against East going forward, that's been the focus there.
"We nailed some targets last week, we need to nail some more that we've focused on this week."
The final match-up sees North Ballarat at home to Lake Wendouree.
After a difficult start to the season with clashes against Darley and Melton, this week should provide a chance for the Roosters to get themselves into the season.
Roosters coach Brendan McCartney said turning up with the right attitude was important for his team.
"I actually think it's often more a measure of a team is the way you play against different opposition," he said.
"You get the red-hot games that you know if you're a step off they'll rip you apart, but it's these games, who knows where the Lakers are at at this time of the year.
"For me, the real measure is what your attitude is. We're about a 20 opposition, 80 per cent us and it's no different this week. We know they have some strengths, we know we need to exploit the perceived weaknesses and that doesn't change no matter who you play."
But Lake Wendouree will be determined to put a much better foot forward than they showed on Anzac Day against Ballarat.
Lakers mentor Rohan Brown halting momentum was the key to a good result for his team this weekend.
"It was rinse and repeat from round one, we were good for a quarter but after that were really disappointing.
"We've reviewed really hard, and changed up a couple of things, but we need more output for longer.
"We'll be up for it I've no doubt and we'll see what happens."
POCKET PREVIEWS
BACCHUS MARSH v SUNBURY
@ Maddingley Park, 2.15pm Saturday
LADDER: Bacchus Marsh 7th (1-2), Sunbury 3rd (2-0)
LAST TIME THEY MET: Round 17, 2023 Bacchus Marsh 12.9n (81) def Sunbury 11.13 (79)
KEY TO THE GAME: Bacchus Marsh look to have picked up defensively and it worked wonders last weekend against Darley, going down by just 12 points in a game that would have given coach Dennis Armfield plenty of hope for a big winter ahead. Sunbury is coming off the bye and has been impressive in its two wins so far, but did lose last time these teams played. The Cobras won't want another honourable loss, the rested Lions have to start as favourite.
PREDICTION: Sunbury
BALLARAT v DARLEY
@ Alfredton 2.15pm Saturday
LADDER: Ballarat 2nd (3-0), Darley 4th (2-1)
LAST TIME THEY MET: Round 1, 2023 Darley 10.11 (71) def Ballarat 3.13 (31)
KEY TO THE GAME: The unbeaten Swans face their biggest test so far this season against the reigning premiers who have started their premiership defence in solid form with the only loss coming to North Ballarat. It hasn't been all smooth sailing though for the Devils who conceded 11 scores in the last quarter against Bacchus Marsh. Swans can't do anymore than they have done so far, but right now the Devils have the runs on the board.
PREDICTION: Darley
EAST POINT v MELTON SOUTH
@ Eastern Oval, 2.15pm Saturday
LADDER: East Point 8th (1-1), Melton South 11th (0-3)
LAST TIME THEY MET: Round 2, 2023 East Point 29.18 (192) def Melton South 6.8 (44)
KEY TO THE GAME: While Melton South showed some undeniable signs last weekend, the end result was still a nine-goal loss to Redan. Even with another week under the likes of the former AFL recruits, it will be hard to see them challenging East Point who played a disciplined game of defend first, attack second against Sebastopol. Dry conditions and a home ground advantage should see a comfortable win to the Kangaroos.
PREDICTION: East Point
NORTH BALLARAT v LAKE WENDOUREE
@Mars Stadium, 2.15pm Saturday
LADDER: North Ballarat 6th (1-1), Lake Wendouree 10th (0-3)
LAST TIME THEY MET: Round 10, 2023 North Ballarat 18.11 (119) def Lake Wendouree 8.3 (51)
KEY TO THE GAME: it's been a heck of difficult start for North Ballarat up against arguably their two biggest challengers for this year's title. A 1-1 result in close matches doesn't give us a great guide, but the Roosters should have enough talent against a young Lakers side who potentially got stage fright on Anzac Day last week. We'll give the Lakers a mulligan for that, because they are better than that, but doubtful they can push North Ballarat here.
PREDICTION: North Ballarat
REDAN v SEBASTOPOL
@ City Oval, 21.5pm Saturday
LADDER: Redan 5th (1-2), Sebastopol 8th (1-2)
LAST TIME THEY MET: Round 18, 2023 Redan 12.7 (79) def Sebastopol 7.17 (59)
KEY TO THE GAME: This match looks the most difficult to predict across the round given both teams start at 1-2 on the season. Sebastopol has been found wanting in its two matches against quality opponents in recent weeks, while Redan was just a minute away from inflicting Ballarat's only defeat, if the form of the Swans stacks up, which it seems to do at the moment, it leans you towards tipping the home side in a close contest.
PREDICTION: Redan
