Cats, Eagles clash in second round of city AFL

Sports

TWO interesting matches are on the card this weekend in the second round of the Esi Loan Port Moresby AFL senior grade competition at the Colts Oval.
Tomorrow’s match sees last week’s big winners Cats and West Eagles face off in a test of form and momentum.
Much will depend on how well the sides have come together as they look to step up against better opposition.
The Cats are elusive ball runners and are fast off the mark on ground play with shot stabbing kicks and open hand balling to propel them to the goal mouth.
The Eagles on the other hand are strong aerial ball winners with high leaping ability.
The Eagles are also good at taking long driving kicks as a means to get into range through the middle corridor.
The Eagles will have Alonge Mondo, Dunstall Kase, Reagan Naipao and Jeffery Namete, pictured, down the centre from fullback to full forward to fire along the corridor.
Ball runners Kila Rawali and Greg Ekari will be on standby to pounce on the crumbs to create effective forward moves from the centre square.
The Eagles main man to tag would be the Cats super-fit Kelly Kaugla, whose fleet-footedness with anticipation should cause the Eagles defenders more than a few headaches.
Kaugla will be ably assisted by John Susuve at centre-half-forward and other promoted youngsters from the reserve grade and the AFL Under-16 Niukick programme.
The Eagles clawed Gereka Bombers by 31 points last week while the Cats pounded on Koboni by 27 points.
Sunday’s main match is a grand final rematch between Koboni and Dockers.
Koboni beat Dockers in the decider last year and the pressure will be on the wharfies to score a psychological win over their conquerors. Koboni’s victory will depend on how well they have worked on the centreline combination to make first use of the ball after struggling to keep up with the tempo of the game in the absence of injured trio Hapeo Bobogi, Brendan Beno and Lai Lai.
The Dockers are boosted by an array of fit and firing talent in Wesley Yuwi, Laurie Logo, Archie Mai Jr, Brendan Bola, Hosea Wartovo, Colin Slim and Jason Logi making the fixture a potential early season block buster.
Fixtures: Rd 2 – Sat, May 25: Bombers v Magpies, Cats v Eagles; Sun, May 26: Dockers v Koboni.