Taylors Lake v Laharum
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Ground: Dock Lake Reserve, Saturday, 2.20pm.
Umpires: A. Hallam and A. Wright.
Last time they met: Round 10, 2013. Laharum 35.34 (244) d Taylors Lake 3.3 (21).
TAYLORS Lake earned redemption for a horror 2013 with a first-up win at the weekend, but the test it faces against Laharum on Saturday could be much more difficult.
The Lakers have developed beyond expectations with a host of off-season recruits, but exactly how much they have improved will be discovered at the Dock Lake Reserve on Saturday.
Laharum defeated them by a whopping 223 points in their last meeting and, if not for some inaccurate kicking, could have pushed the margin even higher.
Taylors Lake coach Deek Roberts said he wanted his players to enter the match not worried about Laharum’s star players, but with focus instead on hard play at the ball.
“It’s a massive step up against Laharum this week, but I said to the boys we have to go in with nothing in our heads about what they did last year, because it’s a new year,” he said.
“I just want to see blokes have a crack at the footy – go out, attack the footy as hard as you can, and play smart.
“If we play our best footy and get flogged, then I’ll take that, but if we go out there and play badly and get flogged I won’t accept that.”
Josh Young is out for the Lakers, but Roberts said several players were in the selection mix, and the side would not be finalised until right before the match.
Laharum ground out a tough win at the weekend in a grand final re-match against Kalkee.
Because of the close margin, the Mountain Men sit fifth on the ladder, but could move up if they score a big percentage-boosting win on Saturday.
Laharum coach Shannon Argall was unavailable for comment.