Hi, just thought I would a start up a thrread about the TAC Cup Preliminary Finals this Saturday at Visy Park (Princess Park).

We have Dandenong v Calder in a rematch of last's years Grand Final in what promises to be the game of the year.

These two teams have shown the best form in the finals series thus far and it's a shame that they meet in the Preliminary Final and not the Grand Final because I believe these are the best two teams in the competition by a fair way.

The other game is Oakleigh v Gippsland, this game looks just as even as both teams came from behind to beat their opponents last week and it should be an evenly matched game.

The teams are listed here

The Dandenong and Calder are teams are chock full of talent and it should be great to watch furure AFL stars go head to head.

I am really looking forward to watch this weekend's games and am just hoping that the weather holds off so we get to see their skills at their best.

I will post a report on how some of the prospects that we have been talking about in the forum played after the match.

I'm tipping a Dandenong v Oakleigh Grand Final for what it's worth.

Well done Melon 22. Over the coming months there's going to be abundant discussion on some of the players involved but much of it will be based on YouTube highlights that are often useless because you don't get an overall picture about the player in question.

If people get down to Visy Park they'll get a greater appreciation of at least some of the names that are going to form part of the draft discussions.

Of course, the four teams on display represent only a third of the young Victorian talent available and doesn't include draftable players from other local competitions like the VFL and there are the interstaters to consider as well. Gold Coast is already committed to the following three players (possibly not in this order) in the November draft:-

1. David Swallow (WA)

2. Harley Bennell (WA)

3. Sam Day (SA)

However, there's some interesting talent in Victoria and enough will be playing on Saturday to make the trip to Visy worthwhile if you're into the draft.

Here are the teams:-

1st Preliminary Final

Dandenong Stingrays vs. Calder Cannons

Saturday 11th September

Visy Park at 11:30 AM

Dandenong Stingrays

B Heddles McInnes Batchelor

HB Amalfi Kelly Buntine

C Gent Parker Treloar

HF Buchan Lynch Allen

F Greeley Siposs Curren

R Elton Hallahan Shiel

Int (from) Tagg Jennings Wells Salopek Benbow Wallace Gearon Pongracic Harrison Wright

Calder Cannons

B Madden Talia Hunter

HB Guthrie Watson Ellis

C Williams Prestia Sheridan

HF McLeod Mitchell Uysal

F Meli Grenfell Sullivan

R Daniher Liberatore Wallis

Int(from) Dale Schroder Kefford Wright O'Loughlin Coran Robortella Drummond Murphy Angus

2nd Preliminary Final

Oakleigh Chargers vs. Gippsland Power

Saturday 11th September

Visy Park at 2:00 PM

Oakleigh Chargers

B D. Harris Golds Cassidy

HB Michie Tomlinson Batsanis

C Otten Lester Browne

HF Mascitti Johnson Crocker

F Tyson Gordon Karnezis

R Castricum Gaff Schneider

Int(from) Bolton Brown Murphy Wooffindin Arnot Curran Cust Ahearne

Gippsland Power

B Wyatt Jones Bugg

HB H. Hector Todd Ross

C Smith Heppell Butcher

HF Lindsay Marusic Corry

F MacDonald Deery Lamb

R Staley Hoghton Northe

Int (from) Thorpe Salton Tipungwuti Carew Tynan Pendlebury D. Hector

There's also a fair bit of interest in the games themselves as Melon pointed out and the first one should be a beauty. Good luck to Graeme Yeats and his Dandy boys!

Don't forget to stay around and give your support to the boys from Gippsland Power. The Power are the feeder club for the Casey Scorpions and a number of the lads in tomorrow's side played alongside the Demons in the Scorps team under the 23rd player rule that they have in the VFL.

A comfortable win for the Calder Cannons against Yeata's Dandenong Stingrays who were overrun in the second half after looking the goods early.

Look forward to Melon's report.

Yep - Dandenong started like a train and got belted in the last half-stopped to a walk. They looked extremely tired. As a Dandy fan because of Yeata - very disappointing.

Almost a mirror image of the first game with the Gippy boys coming from behind and overrunning Oakleigh. Brilliant performance from Dyson Heppell who was almost Dane Swanlike with his attack on the football, his run and the amount of possessions he accumulated.

The bookies will be delighted with the result which pits 6th and 7th placegetters in the granny next week.

The bookies will be delighted with the result which pits 6th and 7th placegetters in the granny next week.

I'm chuffed too because these Gippsland Power  lads - Blake Carew, Dale Hoghton, Aiden Lindsey, Dean McDonald and

Ryan Pendlebury - represented the Casey Scorpions seniors  during the year under the VFL 23rd player rule. While some of the stars of the Gippsland team will go on to long AFL careers, some will get to play VFL with the Scorps in the coming years and have the opportunity to develop their careers in front of our very eyes at Casey Fields.

I'm chuffed too because these Gippsland Power  lads - Blake Carew, Dale Hoghton, Aiden Lindsey, Dean McDonald and

Ryan Pendlebury - represented the Casey Scorpions seniors  during the year under the VFL 23rd player rule. While some of the stars of the Gippsland team will go on to long AFL careers, some will get to play VFL with the Scorps in the coming years and have the opportunity to develop their careers in front of our very eyes at Casey Fields.

Gippsland whom did not have the so - called star players in them exepting Heppell, whom as stated will be a low pick up AFL draftee, played as a team and showed great spirit.It will be very interesting to see how this spirit matches up against the star quality players of the Cannons in the Grand final.The Cannons will have named players as the Maddens,Talia.Hunters,Watson,Prestia,Mitchell,Daniher, Wallis.Liberatore,will be matched against a great team.Go Gippy Go.

Game One: Dandenong Stingrays v Calder Cannons

In a day full of surprise results the first surprise of the day for me was finding the Eastern Freeway completely blocked at Bulleen Road forcing me to miss the first quarter and a bit of the Dandenong Stingrays v Calder Cannons game.

When I did finally get to Visy Park, I was entertained by very high standard with game some very talented players on display.

Dandenong was on top early with its run from defence and its precise kicking was very impressive, while Calder looked a little a bit outclassed with Dandenong’s defence well on top.

At half time Dandenong had a handy lead of 17 points and, after Luke Parker kicked the first goal of the second half, Dandenong looked to have the running and appeared to be well on top of Calder.

However, Calder regained its composure and kicked a couple of goals in quick succession, the entire momentum of game changed with the Cannons making all the play and the Stingrays starting to miss targets. Calder went on to take a 8 point lead at ¾ time.

The final quarter was a continuation of the third with Calder kicking away with a Tom Lynch consolation goal the only major of the quarter for Graham Yeats' Stingrays who will be bitterly disappointed not to have made their third consecutive Grand Final.

One of the highlights of the match was the duel between prospective first round draft picks Matthew Watson and Tom Lynch in the second half.

While Lynch is the more athletic player, Watson made an impact on the contest to either get an important tap or make enough body contact to at least break even and to allow his teammates to come in for support.

Lynch started to push higher up the field the more Dandenong struggled to get the ball out of defence. Watson allowed him to run up the field and this gave the Cannons player the space to become an outlet for his team and allowing him to use his penetrating left foot to set attacks.

Late in the game Lynch was able to take a couple of contested marks on Watson and to kick a goal in what was a very even contest where both players had their moments of brilliance and showed why they are so highly rated.

Dandenong’s Luke Parker was playing well until he was involved in a nasty head clash early in the last quarter and was unable to return to the field. Up until that point, he was important in the stoppages with his bullocking work and clean hands around the contests. His ability to get forward and kick a goal was sorely missed in the last quarter by Dandenong and his absence was one of the reasons for a disappointing fade out.

The other player who impressed me but who wasn’t named in Dandenong's best was Jake Batchelor who was one of the few players who continued to run even when Calder was well on top. While he isn’t the most skilled player he gave everything to get his team back in the game.

For Calder, I was very impressed by defender Cameron Guthrie after half time when he provided some great run out of defence. His ability to win the contest and run off his opponent was crucial to turning the tide of the match towards his team's favour.

Luke Mitchell, the power forward for Calder didn’t have a big influence on the day but he continued to present all day and worked hard for his team which is one of his main strengths of his game and was important for the Cannons' structure.

The Bulldog-bound duo of Wallis and Liberatore were good without being outstanding. They were outshone by their Vic Metro teammate in Dion Prestia who got his team going and was Calder’s best player on the day.

Calder Cannons 2.2.14 4.6.30 9.9.63 13.13.91

Dandenong Stingrays 4.3.27 7.5.47 8.7.55 9.10.64

Goals

Calder Cannons Schroder 3 Kefford 2 Sullivan 2 Prestia 2 Mitchell Meli Guthrie Williams

Dandenong Stingrays Parker 2 Curren Lynch Elton Buntine Hallahan Tagg Treloar

Best

Calder Cannons Prestia Guthrie Sullivan Sheridan Ellis Williams

Dandenong Stingrays Elton Shiel Amalfi Treloar Gent Lynch

Game Two: Oakleigh Chargers v Gippsland Power

The Oakleigh and Gippsland match had very similar storyline to the first game. The Chargers started the stronger of the two sides and looked like the team most likely with more talent on the park than Gippsland. Potential first rounder Andrew Gaff and Tom Schneider were running rampant with Gaff’s kicking into forward line particular damaging.

Gaff was seemingly running on his own in the first half and he was ably supported by Max Otten, Sam Crocker and Alex Browne who were controlling the back half for Oakleigh.

After half time though it became the Dyson Heppell show who through his dominance got the other Gippsland boys involved. Jed Lamb started to get busy and Tim Northe and Dean McDonald (who played for Casey Scorpions during the year) kicked important goals to steal a win for the Power in what was a major upset.

Morrish Medallist Heppell was brilliant. His was one of the most dominant displays by one player in match that I have seen; he finished with 40 disposals, 9 clearances, 8 marks, 11 inside 50’s and 1 goal. What makes these statistics even more impressive was the fact the nearest Gippsland player had only 20 possessions. But it wasn’t just the quantity of the Heppell’s possessions- it was the timing, whenever Gippsland needed a mark or clearance Heppell would be there to make it happen and it was awesome to watch.

Lamb has tremendous pace and skill but it was his tenacity and his attack on the ball that impressed me the most. The desperation for the contest he showed in the last quarter was something that I hadn’t seen from him before. While his finals campaign has been okay, he is a big time player and I am looking forward to watching him on the big stage of the Grand Final.

The other player from the Power that impressed me was MacDonald who was competitive across half forward. He has a penetrating right foot kick which he used affectively for two goals.

For Oakleigh the clear for me was Schneider, even though he strangely wasn’t even named in the official best he picked up 40 possessions and was the one player in the last quarter who was uncompromising at the contest for Oakleigh when some of his team mates had dropped off. While his disposal isn’t the best, his ability to get the footy isn’t in doubt and he capped off a wonderful finals series where he had 44, 32 and 40 possessions in three games.

Gaff’s first half was great switching between a midfield and forward role he was an important link man and got a lot of the ball. But alarmingly when the game started to turn in Gippsland’s favour he went missing and wasn’t able to influence the contest enough. I still thought it was his best game of the finals campaign and to finish with 30 touches in a preliminary final is good performance.

Otten was very important for Oakleigh in the first half with his composure and run off half back but like a lot of his team mates his influence after half time was diminished.

So it's on to the grand final where two unlikely opponents are pitted against each other. At the end of the regular season Gippsland was 6th and Calder 7th.

Oakleigh Chargers 4.4.28 8.6.54 10.8.68 14.9.93

Gippsland Power 2.5.17 4.8.32 8.13.61 14.20.104

Goals

Oakleigh Chargers Johnson 4 Gordon 2 Crocker Batsanis Gaff Tomlinson Karnezis Tyson Schneider Michie

Gippsland Power Wyatt 2 MacDonald 2 Northe 2 Deery 2 Hoghton Bugg Smith Salton Heppell Lamb

Best

Oakleigh Chargers Cassidy Johnson Gordon Crocker Gaff Harris

Gippsland Power Heppell Lamb Northe Wyatt Deery Ross

Good report on a fascinating day's football.

I must admit I came to the ground full of anticipation for Yeata and his team and looking forward to a dominant performance from Tom Lynch at CHF. He turned it on for most of the first half aided by a winning midfield. When the Cannons' onballers took over in the second half he still did well but was reasonably held by Matthew Watson in a great duel. Something tells me we are going to see more of that contest in the future.

While I anticipated seeing a great game from Oakleigh's Andrew Daff (and he was very good but drifted out of the game at the end), I wasn't expecting to see such an explosive performance from Dylan Heppell who looks the prototype of the modern midfielder. He was Vic Country's MVP and Morrish Medallist so it wasn't exactly a fluke. Should be gone before we have our pick at 12 anyway.

Nobody's mentioned Anthony Tipungwuti yet so I will. He's a Northern Territorian from the Tiwi Islands (home of Aussie). Lightly built and small of frame, he started on the bench, was used sparingly and had an impact for the Power in the final quarter. Possibly a rookie prospect, I'm sure he would fit in well with the Demons.

Which leads me to ask what happened to the Aaron Davey scholarship that was supposed to be awarded to a young indigenous footballer?

If it's still happening, the connection between the MFC -> Casey Scorpions -> Gippsland Power is obvious.

Nobody's mentioned Anthony Tipungwuti yet so I will. He's a Northern Territorian from the Tiwi Islands (home of Aussie). Lightly built and small of frame, he started on the bench, was used sparingly and had an impact for the Power in the final quarter. Possibly a rookie prospect, I'm sure he would fit in well with the Demons.

Which leads me to ask what happened to the Aaron Davey scholarship that was supposed to be awarded to a young indigenous footballer?

If it's still happening, the connection between the MFC -> Casey Scorpions -> Gippsland Power is obvious.

This is him: