Finals-like clash in stand alone Mid Gippsland fixture

by Rob Popplestone
A sneaky little mid-season break will be had for 11 of the 13 Mid Gippsland football teams over the King's Birthday weekend.
Saturday will offer just the one clash, between two of the competition's in-form clubs in league leaders and reigning premiers Fish Creek and the fifth placed MDU.
Fish Creek v MDU
MDU come into this game off an impressive and confidence building win over last year's grand finalists Newborough.
The Demons' seven-point victory has them just one win away from their weekend opponent. In itself, this should be reason enough to have the visitors up and about.
"This week we play Fish Creek away in what I'm expecting to be a finals-like game," MDU coach Nathan Allen said. "Two good teams going at it in front of a huge crowd, hopefully!"
The match certainly is deserving of a ''finals-like'' crowd. If we happen to be greeted by kind winter weather, everything else should just fall into place.
As good as the Demons have been on the back of solid performances by the likes of Lachie Wright, Tom Corry, Sam Wilson, Steve Forrester and the coach himself, the key to MDU's winning form has been the efforts of the team. Different players have given what is required at different times, with no one, two or three individuals relied upon to get the job done.
If the footy gods are kind to both clubs this King's Birthday weekend, we can be assured of some quality football.
That is certainly what the Kangaroos are expecting.
"We had a great win last week against Tarwin," Fish Creek coach Jarrod Walker said. "It was good for us to tick off the KPIs that we had before the game and even contributors across the ground."
"We are now looking forward to this week," Walker added. "Super exciting to play a stand alone game against Meeniyan, who we have a great rivalry against. Hope to get a good crowd down at our home ground."
The reference to home ground might just be the key, as one of the state's very best performing clubs look forward to performing in front of a healthy home crowd.
MDU might well be pleased with the way responsibilities are spread between the club's playing personnel each week. But, make no mistake, Fish Creek has been and will continue to do the same. In fact, over the past month they have had no less than 14 different players acknowledged as part of their club's best.
The Kangaroos demolition of Tarwin last week by 100 points - keeping the Sharks to just a solitary goal - is proof that the reigning premiers have lost none of what they delivered in 2023. In fact, they may have improved in 2024.