It's round 9 and some of our Dewar Shield final four hopefuls have just about exhausted their 9 lives.
So who still has life left in them heading into Saturday's fixtures?
3rd place Moorabbin head under the bridge this week to take on the students who pushed Harlequins for 60 mins last outing but couldn’t finish them off.
Uni are still in touching distance of the top 4 but need this win to keep their hopes alive.
Moorabbin are now 10 points clear of 4th spot and are eyeing up the double chance for finals if they can keep this impressive run going. They made hard work winning against the fast improving Doggies last week and will look to bully Uni this round and stop Uni playing their structured attack and choking teams into errors.
The last meeting between the 2 teams saw a high scoring encounter with the Rams just getting home 31- 26. Look for a similar score line.
Moorabbin to win by 8 points
The Broncos return to the stables after another game they let slip away against Power House last round and know the time is running out to put out complete performances and threaten top 4 teams.
Quins took a long time to breakdown Uni last week but still look the form team in the competition. A trip to Box Hill is always a tough challenge and the Quins defence will need to be on point to stop the freewheeling Box Hill outfit.
If Box Hill have found some starch in their defence they could really challenge the front running Quins but defence has been their Achilles heel all year.
Harlequins to win by 15 points
The Doggies are back at the pound this week after another impressive performance against a top 3 team saw them fall 7 points short of Moorabbin. They are playing with greater consistency and are showing they finally believe they belong in this competition.
They will be ready to show their improvement after a 77 – 0 drubbing to the Unicorns last time they met. The Unicorns will know it is not a case of turning up and banking points anymore against Footscray so they will need to have the right attitude and be prepared to work hard to come away with a win.
Melbourne will be riding high after a very good victory over the Eagles saw them retain second spot and will look to continue their run with a solid away win.
Footscray to show huge improvement but Melbourne by 20 plus.
What a game this will be as two desperate teams battle for fourth spot this week.
Power House, fresh from a tough fought win against Box Hill, are home again and ready to extract revenge on the Eagles for their round 2 defeat.
Last season’s minor premiers are hanging onto the top 4 by a talon and know this is a statement game for them. The heroics of last year are well and truly behind Endeavour, as they are not a surprise packet any more. If they want a crack at the title, they really have to snap a 3 game losing streak and it must start with this game or their season could be in freefall.
This is a huge call but Power House to be in the top 4 Saturday afternoon with a 6 point win.
