Bennettswood Reserve will be home to only one of Emmaus St Leo’s four teams this weekend as three of them travel for their wins in round 4. The Animals women are back at Albert Park again to take on AJAX at Lindsay Hassett Oval, while the Thirds face Whitefriars at home for their second game at Bennettswood Reserve in a row. And on Saturday, the reserves and seniors will head to Rathmines Road Reserve to take on Hawthorn in what will hopefully be a rematch of the preseason games played before round one.
It’s only by percentage that the Hawks sit in 3rd on the ladder as the Animals trail behind in 4th with both teams the only two to have two wins and a loss for the season so far. It’s been an interesting one for Emmaus St Leo’s, whose only loss is arguably one they should have won and would have seen them above Hawthorn going into this match. For the Hawks, their shock one-point loss to North Brunswick in round 1 has clearly been one they’ve been using as motivation.
2019 was an unfortunate one for Hawthorn as their one win in division 2 sent them packing down to division 3 for 2021, while Emmaus St Leo’s fell agonisingly short in a preliminary final.
At the selection table this week, the seniors have seen a few changes, mostly due to injury. Tom Clarke comes back into side to start in the back pocket, joined by Sam Argus at full back and Ben Collins on the either side. At centre halfback is Joden Crothers, with returning-player Bailey Hunt and Jesse Collins beside him. Matt Hill and Kieran Mair resume their usual posts on the wings, while in the middle Zac Durrant makes his return to seniors footy and has Ethan Phillips, Nathan Bird and returning-captain Harry Davis at his feet. In the forward line, Sam Barrah and Emerson Lemkau will start high, Kye Roberts and Guy Donovan will lead from the middle, and Jack Hunt and Dan Hill are beginning the game deep. On the bench sits James Moran, Jacob Glare, with Leiwyn Jones and Jacob Anthony making their seniors footy debuts off the back of some very impressive form in the reserves.
If the preseason practice game was anything to go by, this weekend’s game is set to be an intense one. And with more than percentage on the line, the Emmaus St Leo’s seniors are going to be hard to beat. Get down to Rathmines Road Reserve to watch the reserves at 11:40am before the seniors run out for a 2pm start.