Lakes Entrance will host its first home game of the season on Saturday when it welcomes reigning premier, Boisdale Briagolong to the Lakeside Oval.
Adding some intrigue to the contest is that the fact that both sides were defeated in round one of the season, an undermanned Seagulls going down to Lucknow in an away fixture, while the Bombers went down to neighbour and traditional rival Stratford in a classic edition of the local derby at the Cabbage Patch.
Slated as the team to beat pre-season, the Bombers, off the back of a premiership and with the introduction of several key players, including coach Kade Renooy from Maffra, will be looking to bounce back and make a
big statement.
The Seagulls are also looking for a much better effort than their opening round 58-point defeat at the hands of last year’s runners-up, with four key selection inclusion likely to increase supply into the forward 50.
Key recruits Bryce Collings, Mitchell Banner, Sam Brown and Shaun Smith will all play, while Sam Nickless, Liam Allen and Tommy Hudson will still be missing with injury.
Collings, Brown and Smith are likely to join Liam Carroll in the centre square, while Banner, who played 19 games for Port Adelaide between 2009-2012, is a likely inclusion forward, where he has kicked plenty of goals at suburban and country level.
Lakes Entrance coach Darren Martin is looking forward to the continued improvement of his side this week after seeing plenty of improvements in the season opener.
“I’m expecting the ball in our forward 50 more this week, with the inclusion of Collings, Brown and Smith, which should see Mitch Banner get the chance to puts some early goals on the board in his first hit out for the Seagulls,” Martin said.
The former Paynesville premiership coach, who signed with the Seagulls is expecting a bumper crowd to Saturday’s match, given the Boisdale-Briagolong are renowned for making a weekend of their yearly sojourn east to tackle Lakes Entrance.
“Our recruiting an training numbers have created a buzz around the town, the park is booked out for the weekend, so I’m expecting plenty of people to put their head in and have a look, hopefully we can match the hype,” Martin said.
Lakes Entrance are looking forward to a big performance on the field and big night in the clubrooms after the game where they will formally get the opportunity to welcome the new players to the club for season 2025 as well as the friendly folk from Boisdale Briagolong.
