GORDON (1st) v SPRINGBANK (7th)
at Gordon
Saturday, 2.30pm
LAST TIME: Gordon 13.12 (90) d Springbank 6.5 (41), round 8, 2014
BITTER rivals Gordon and Springbank will meet for the 50th time in a Central Highlands Football League showdown this Saturday.
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And the stakes have rarely been higher.
The Hyundai Eagles and GJ Gardner Tigers are founding members of the competition - which formed in 1979 - with the Jimmy Toohey Memorial Trophy again on the line in a clash that could help shape the top four at the end of the season.
Springbank holds the advantage on past meetings – leading 29-20 – but is looking to bounce back from a 49-point beating when the two teams met last year. The Tigers ended up playing off in the decider, however, after the Eagles were sent packing by eventual premiers Bungaree in the preliminary final.
Tigers coach Terry Simpson said there will be a bit more feeling in this match than in any other home and away game and will hope his players rise to the occasion after recent wins against lowly opponents.
“We’ve been paying pretty good footy, but the oppositions haven’t been top eight sides the last couple of weeks,” Simpson said.
“I’m sure the payers will all lift and realise the significance of it.
“It’s just one of those bragging rights games, I guess. Now both sides are up the top, it brings out the rivalry in it."
The Tigers have named a couple of changes to the team that thrashed Daylesford last round, with defender Marty Anderson and this season’s recruit Jesse Galea left out with “soft tissue injuries”.
Gordon is on top of the ladder after last Saturday’s hard-fought triumph over Beaufort, while Springbank is seventh, but just four points behind the Eagles.
It appears Gordon will again be without coach Corey Grills, with his knee injury likely to keep him sidelined for a few more weeks, but have named winger Harley Hunter and key forward Hamish Watts to return.
PREDICTION: Gordon by eight points