No shortage of football to look forward to this weekend, with a full round of NPL, big games in the Super League, including a stern first up test for the defending Champions and a Cup Final to kick it all off.
That's where we begin with Beachside and Hobart United clashing in the Summer Cup Final tonight. Beachside moved into the final comfortably, scoring three victories from their 3 group games and all of them were by more than a goal. They downed Taroona 3-1, Nelson 3-0 and New Town 2-0. With Knights promoted, they are the provisional favourites for the Southern Championship this season, and will be keen to kick things off with the first piece of silverware on offer for the year. With the class of Shae Hickey pulling the strings in the midfield, and the likes of Pearce, Cox and Whitehall, this is an experienced, battle hardened squad who should cope with the occasion comfortably.
Hobart United accounted for South East United 6-1 and then last weekend secured their passage to the final with a 4-2 win over Metro in a fiery affair. Ultimately what has seen them through was the bonus point they secured from a marathon penalty shootout over University. Their 9-8 triumph from spot kicks, made up for the lack of goals in the 90 minutes, after the sides had been locked at 0-0. They are an athletic side with plenty of goals threats. Riak Dhieu, Francis Kenyi, Jal David are all livewires and there is no doubt they have the weapons to cause Beachside plenty of problems. These two may well push each other for the league title this year, consider this Round 1 of what could be a year long bout.
[caption id="attachment_9734" align="alignnone" width="569"]
Solstice Photography[/caption]
Moving on to Saturday and the game I am most looking forward to this weekend is the massive clash in the Women's Super League that will see the defending Champions Ulverstone in action for the first time. After an unbeaten Season 2019, they take on the early fancies from the south in Olympia. After their Summer Cup victory and win over Zebras last week, the Warriors have marked themselves as one of the major threats to an Ulverstone side who were a class above everyone else by a distance last season. Whilst they may have lost some key contributors, there is still plenty of quality in the Ulverstone side and the return of the classy Danielle Mitchell helps somewhat mitigate those departures. So until proven otherwise Ulverstone are the Super League favourites to my mind, but Olympia are waiting in the wings to dethrone them. Those recent tough games against the Zebras last week and the Summer Cup final might have the Warriors better prepared, so they might be able to jump them at this early stage in the season, but we saw Ulverstone really physically bully younger sides last season. This is an intriguing match up and we will learn plenty about both sides chances this season from it.
[caption id="attachment_10008" align="alignnone" width="610"]
Write this team off at your own peril- Solstice Photography[/caption]
In other Super League action, the Safari Derby will see Hobart Zebras trying to turn the tables on a Kingborough side who really showed them up in their Summer Cup clash. The Zebras have strengthened since that game and looked much better against Olympia last week, but will need to be a lot better than that last game between the two. Elsewhere South Hobart will try to shake off a wretched run of early season injuries, and their squad depth is set to be tested to the maximum when they host Clarence at Darcy Street on Sunday. Clarence had last week off so its a first look at them for the season and an important game for both teams to try capture three points from.
In the NPL TAS, an improved Kingborough Lions side will look to show how far they have come when they host the Hobart Zebras in Saturday night action. The Lions have started the season well under the new management of coach Greg Calvert and assistant Ben Horgan, beating Clarence and Riverside, and losing narrowly, 2-1 to South Hobart. Their draw gets more difficult from here on out though and the Zebras is the first of a number of tough games they have to come. They have proved a tough opponent under the lights of Lightwood Park and will be looking to continue that in a game they will enter as underdogs, but the way they have started the season should provide hope, they’ve looked re-energised and played a good brand of football so far in 2019.
Their opponents in the Hobart Zebras are the only other side outside of the current league leaders in Devonport to have not lost a game, thumping Clarence in their season opener before fighting out draws with expected title rivals in South Hobart and Olympia. Their most recent game on Sunday against the Warriors saw them snatching a point late thanks to Adam Mckeown's stunning volley, though on balance of play they could probably consider themselves fortunate to have taken a point.
[caption id="attachment_10009" align="alignnone" width="607"]
The Lions have started well- Solstice Photography[/caption]
In a huge Saturday of the NPL, three other games will take place as Riverside look to parlay their midweek success into a result against Devonport at Windsor Park. This is their first outing against a side considered to be a firm title contender and their defence will need to be as resolute as it was under siege in that second half on Wednesday night. The Strikers have a 100% record they will be expecting to maintain as they look to build a little buffer atop the league table to the logjam of a chasing pack.
Elsewhere Launceston City will continue to search for their first win against a Glenorchy Knights side who got a confidence boosting win over Clarence midweek. They will have to continue to try ride out the current injury crisis that has made life tough for them but this looks a winnable game. Lino Sciulli was not happy with his City side's midweek performance, and they certainly haven't looked as sharp as they were in 2018 over the opening rounds. Finally South Hobart will be expected to comfortably deal with Clarence who have shown incremental improvements in final scores, but the stats in their games are painting a grim picture. If not for the work of Jake French in net, who has been outstanding, it could be worse and he will need to be at his best again tomorrow.
NPL TASMANIA
Saturday 23 March
Riverside Olympic v Devonport, 1:30pm, Windsor Park
Clarence v South Hobart, 2:30pm, KGV
Launceston City v Glenorchy Knights, 4:30pm, Buckby Landrover Park,
Kingborough v Hobart Zebras, 6:00pm, Lightwood Park LIVE STREAM GAME
Women’s Super League
Saturday 23 March
Hobart Zebras v Kingborough, 12:00pm, KGV
Olympia Warriors v Ulverstone, 2:30pm, Warrior Park
Sunday 24 March
South Hobart v Clarence United, 2:00pm, Darcy Street
Men’s Summer Cup Final
Friday 22 March
Beachside v Hobart United, 8:00pm, KGV LIVE STREAM GAME
Solstice Photography[/caption]
Moving on to Saturday and the game I am most looking forward to this weekend is the massive clash in the Women's Super League that will see the defending Champions Ulverstone in action for the first time. After an unbeaten Season 2019, they take on the early fancies from the south in Olympia. After their Summer Cup victory and win over Zebras last week, the Warriors have marked themselves as one of the major threats to an Ulverstone side who were a class above everyone else by a distance last season. Whilst they may have lost some key contributors, there is still plenty of quality in the Ulverstone side and the return of the classy Danielle Mitchell helps somewhat mitigate those departures. So until proven otherwise Ulverstone are the Super League favourites to my mind, but Olympia are waiting in the wings to dethrone them. Those recent tough games against the Zebras last week and the Summer Cup final might have the Warriors better prepared, so they might be able to jump them at this early stage in the season, but we saw Ulverstone really physically bully younger sides last season. This is an intriguing match up and we will learn plenty about both sides chances this season from it.
[caption id="attachment_10008" align="alignnone" width="610"] Write this team off at your own peril- Solstice Photography[/caption]
In other Super League action, the Safari Derby will see Hobart Zebras trying to turn the tables on a Kingborough side who really showed them up in their Summer Cup clash. The Zebras have strengthened since that game and looked much better against Olympia last week, but will need to be a lot better than that last game between the two. Elsewhere South Hobart will try to shake off a wretched run of early season injuries, and their squad depth is set to be tested to the maximum when they host Clarence at Darcy Street on Sunday. Clarence had last week off so its a first look at them for the season and an important game for both teams to try capture three points from.
In the NPL TAS, an improved Kingborough Lions side will look to show how far they have come when they host the Hobart Zebras in Saturday night action. The Lions have started the season well under the new management of coach Greg Calvert and assistant Ben Horgan, beating Clarence and Riverside, and losing narrowly, 2-1 to South Hobart. Their draw gets more difficult from here on out though and the Zebras is the first of a number of tough games they have to come. They have proved a tough opponent under the lights of Lightwood Park and will be looking to continue that in a game they will enter as underdogs, but the way they have started the season should provide hope, they’ve looked re-energised and played a good brand of football so far in 2019.
Their opponents in the Hobart Zebras are the only other side outside of the current league leaders in Devonport to have not lost a game, thumping Clarence in their season opener before fighting out draws with expected title rivals in South Hobart and Olympia. Their most recent game on Sunday against the Warriors saw them snatching a point late thanks to Adam Mckeown's stunning volley, though on balance of play they could probably consider themselves fortunate to have taken a point.
[caption id="attachment_10009" align="alignnone" width="607"] The Lions have started well- Solstice Photography[/caption]
In a huge Saturday of the NPL, three other games will take place as Riverside look to parlay their midweek success into a result against Devonport at Windsor Park. This is their first outing against a side considered to be a firm title contender and their defence will need to be as resolute as it was under siege in that second half on Wednesday night. The Strikers have a 100% record they will be expecting to maintain as they look to build a little buffer atop the league table to the logjam of a chasing pack.
Elsewhere Launceston City will continue to search for their first win against a Glenorchy Knights side who got a confidence boosting win over Clarence midweek. They will have to continue to try ride out the current injury crisis that has made life tough for them but this looks a winnable game. Lino Sciulli was not happy with his City side's midweek performance, and they certainly haven't looked as sharp as they were in 2018 over the opening rounds. Finally South Hobart will be expected to comfortably deal with Clarence who have shown incremental improvements in final scores, but the stats in their games are painting a grim picture. If not for the work of Jake French in net, who has been outstanding, it could be worse and he will need to be at his best again tomorrow.
NPL TASMANIA
Saturday 23 March
Riverside Olympic v Devonport, 1:30pm, Windsor Park
Clarence v South Hobart, 2:30pm, KGV
Launceston City v Glenorchy Knights, 4:30pm, Buckby Landrover Park,
Kingborough v Hobart Zebras, 6:00pm, Lightwood Park LIVE STREAM GAME
Women’s Super League
Saturday 23 March
Hobart Zebras v Kingborough, 12:00pm, KGV
Olympia Warriors v Ulverstone, 2:30pm, Warrior Park
Sunday 24 March
South Hobart v Clarence United, 2:00pm, Darcy Street
Men’s Summer Cup Final
Friday 22 March
Beachside v Hobart United, 8:00pm, KGV LIVE STREAM GAME