Lakes Entrance will head to Paynesville this Saturday for round four of the East Gippsland Football Netball League season, confident of defeating a struggling Gulls line up.
Both teams will take the field winless but the Seagulls have by better form and are expected to be close to full strength for the clash that will be good for their confidence and morale.
Expect classy players such as Liam Carroll, Bryce Collings, Sam Brown and Mitchell Banner to cause plenty of headaches for a Paynesville side that is struggling for positives.
The Seagulls have show improvement despite going down to 2024 grand finalist Lucknow by 48 points in round one and reigning premier Boisdale Briagolong by 100 points in round two.
There have been encouraging signs for new coach Darren Martin, but he will be stern in his message that it must all come together this week at AJ Freeman Reserve.
Martin is a former premiership coach at Paynesville and it’s no secret the Gulls were keen to secure him for another term but he opted to join Lakes Entrance, a side with plenty of potential, given the numerous promising youngsters currently developing throughout its junior program.
Omeo and District Football Netball Club premiership coach, David Westland, who tasted ultimate success at Bruthen and Swifts Creek, has had a baptism of fire at EGFNL level in charge of Paynesville, who have been humbled in all three rounds, by cricket score figures of 199 (Orbost Snowy Rovers), 155 (Lucknow) and a staggering 265 points last week against premiership favourite Boisdale Briagolong at the Cabbage Patch, a ground which isn’t usually conducive to huge scores, due to lack of space.
It’s opportunity for a young forward such as Oscar Brazzale to go to the next level, get a bag of goals against moderate opposition and springboard his season.
Assistant coach Ben Rotheram will also be another dangerous player for Paynesville to monitor, he’s close to a huge performance and a big goal tally from the clever forward isn’t out of the question.
Paynesville is tipped to have some significant inclusions this week, which might stem the bleeding, but it won’t close the wound with the Seagulls expected to bank the four points comfortably.
