SOUTHPORT KNOCKED OUT IN STRAIGHT SETS. WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT IT

This might be the case after this weekend and after the way they started this year, it will be a massive shock too the people at shark park. The vultures juggernaut has been rolling on for a while now and no one can stop it and i can't see anyone doing it for a while. Southport got out play quite easily by the panthers last sunday at home and have a frew players carrying injuries and few of them might miss this game. The vultures are going to have their leader and arguably their best player in Josh Vearing who injured his anckle in the third quarter of their win over the thunder in the elimination final last sunday. The last time these 2 met, the game was close all day until the vulture ran away with the match in the last. The battles all over the field will be crackers. Will Tommy Tarrant get Maclaren and will hughes play and match up ahainst adam tarrant. This match should be a beauty

5 key players for both sides

Vultures

Daniel Savage. was good last week and he will have to step up with vearing most likely out

Tommy Tarrant. he will get Maclaren and he has to shut his run down

Aiden Prat. tough and can get plenty of the footy and will always use it well

Ash Evans. if he can get on top of the tag from devine. he will be a match winner

Darryl White. A key target if morro and co are cut out of the game

Southport

Kurt Nickalus. has to play out of his skin too really give the sharks a chance

Mark Lynch. Good in and under player that can get plenty of the footy from to down back

Dean Putt. has to domminate for his midfielders to have any chance of domminating the vultures mifield

Cleve Hughes. Needs to domminate and kick a big bag for the sharks to have any chance of winning this game of footy

Adam Devine. Has been the sharks most consisitant over the last month and a bit and he will get Evans

i think the vultures will end the sharks season

SOUTHPORT TOO MUCH CLASS

Too much class was really the end result for the sharks on saturday. Aspley were in it all day and looked like they could cause another upset to go with the morningside win earlier this year. But southport started to run and carry and just domminate all over the park from about hal way through the 3rd quarter. The hornets looked rattled at one stage and didn't know what to do and couldn't find any answers and they were outclassed by the more experienced and well drilled southport putfit in the end. The hornets shouldn't be that dissapointed in what was an improving year where they won 4 more games than last year and finished 2 spots higher on the ladder than last year

IS IT CALOUNDRAS YEAR

Well they are due to win this flag. They have been the best team in the comp all year and they seem ready to take out this gf on sunday, but they have been in this position before and they have choked when it mattered. In 2008 they had a massive chance to win the flag and inaccurate kicking cost them in the end. They have a good blend of experience and youth in their side and they have quality dootballers in this side that you would normall see in the pineapple hotel cup or higher leagues in qld. Coorparoo have had a consitant year and have a good quality outfit all year long. They have planty of experienced players in the ranks that have played in the top level in qld and their best player won the Joe Grant medal in last years gf. Their midfield has class writen all over it and they have forwards that can kick bags when needed. They game will be won in the midfield and the 2 coaches will have both teams primed for this and i am going to tip an upset. the experience and class of coorparoo will get them over the line in this one

Thunder out, vultures roll on

Saturdays game between the thunder and the vultures had too be moved to sunday for a broken down plane in Darwin. So the thunder were pushing it uphill from the start of the day really. The game wasn't what you call the best game of footy you would ever see. The game was tight and physical from the start and there wasn't a clear front runner in the early stages of the game. The vultures had plenty of the footy and had plenty of shots on goal in the first quarter and The thunder didn't miss when they had a shot at goal. The midfield battle was an intriguing one throughout the first half and the vultures were getting on top, with hammil, savage and evans running and collecting possies at will. The second half was where the game openned up and the vultures took control of the game weight of posession took it's toll on the tried thunder outfit. The only downside for the vulture was an ankle to their leader vearing, who came off early in the third quarter and didn't return. but he was on crutches after the game and it will be interesting to see if he can get up for another sudden death clash this saturday against the sharks. who got belted by a fit and morningside team

Arch rivals at it again

The biggest rivals in the qafl face off again in the qualifying final at southport on sunday and it should be one hell of a game. The sharks started off the year with a house on fire and started to taper off about 12 rounds in and really have hit the wall ever since. They lost 4 of their last 6 games to limp into the finals and last week they didn't look that flash against aspley at Graham road. The panthers have had an up and down year and injuries haven't helped their cause one single bit. Throughout the year nearly all their big name players have missed game time through injury or other reasons and they have started to get these players back and are looking like a genuine threat again.. The battles accross the park in this one will be a ripping contest. neither team can honestly say they have an edge any where on the park..

5 key players for both sides

Danny Wise. the best player in the comp this year by a fair way and if he is on. he will cut them apart

Kurt Nickalus. His matchup with kent abey will be a beauty and if he can shut kent down. the panther might struggle to kick a score

Darren Pheifer. Aclass player that runs and runs all day and another player that can cut you apart

Matthew Payne. A classy midfielder and will be he\ard to stop in a big game like this

Adam Devine. the skiunk will get shelton and he can shut him down and get plenty of the footy while doing that

Paul Shelton. he needs to have a blinder aqnd drive his team mates. he is capable of cutting the sharks to shreds

Damien Bonney. He can be a nigling little prick and he does go over the top with his theatrics. but he is another player that will be able to make things happen

Nathan Kinch. Gives a lot of run and drive and another match winner for the panthers that has been up and down this year with injuries

AAron Rogers. A very handy defender and he will more than like get Maclaren and he can shut any good forward down

Jacob Gough. they need him to do it all again and he is someone that can carry a team to victory

i think this will be a cracking game of footy. Morningside have only won twice in 17 years doen and it's a daunting task at the best of times. but i think they will get the money in this one

CAN THE THUNDER STOP THE VULTURE JUGERNAUT

The elimination final on saturday should be an absolute cracker between 2 teams that have different form lines going into this game. The thunder looked a bit shakey leading into the finals with a couple of losses on the trott before they won 2 in a row quite convincingly on both accounts and the problem they will have is, can they win away from home and that's been their problem all year long. They can take some solice out the win they had against the vultures at ditmar park earlier this year, but that was a different vultures team that day. The vulture have been rollocking along since that game and have been unstoable in parts of the game. Their stars have comeback and been a massive influence and been mainly the difference for this team being where they are and looking at a tilt at another flag.

5 key players for both sides

Adan Tarrant. he has been fantastic again this year and he will probably get ewing and i expect him to shut him down

Jake Furfaro. gives them drive off the half back flank and will be a key to them winning

Ash Evans. has been a prolific ball winner and they thunder will need to shut him down

Josh Vearing. The leader of team all day long. If he can get plenty of it and normally does, the vultures will go close to winning the game of footy

Dean Page. arguably the recruit of the season. if morro gets shut down this bloke will have to kick the goals

Shaun Tapp. Put him on their best forward any day and he will shut them down and domminate

Ewing. has to kick a bag for them to win this game

Goodes. gives them plenty of drive and can cut you to shreds

Cameron Illet. collects the ball at will and will have to a big one for the vulture to play next week

kenrick Tyrrel. his battle in the ruck with hill and co will be a beauty and if he can get his hands on the ball watch out vultures

This should be a great game and i reckon the vultures will continue on with their great run they are on

CAN ASPLEY WIN THEIR FOURTH IN A ROW

They can in my eyes and it won't be easy against the powerhouse side of the competition in the southport sharks. Aspleys confidence is sky high at the moment after 3 wins on the trot and against some quality opposition in the thunder and a 13 afl listed lions team at coorparoo. Last week they had to dig deep and pull one out of the bag against the lions and they really toughed it out in the end for agreat win. Southports form has been shotty at best lately and with 1 win against the bottom placed team in their last 5 games running into the finals, it isn't an ideal lead up for a team that looked like nothing will beat them come grand final day. The usual suspects have done all the hard work for them over that time and they will ned to play well again to beat a confident and up and going hornets team that are beying for blood. I think the hornets can cause another massive upset in great year for the club and build on it towards next year

3 IN A ROW FOR THE HORNETS

The aspley hornets won their 3rd game in a row and it was against a very strong lions reserves side. they had to dig deep all day and the 3rd quarter again was the difference for the hornets, unlike all those terrible losses at the start of the season where the 3rd quarter was a killer. At half time the hornets were looking down the barrel of a flogging or dissapointing loss, but Russel evans threw Sean tighe inot the ruck and it really turned the game on it's head. once again the umpire were shocking when umpiring a lions game, they really do have stars in their eyes when they umpire these games and it's pathetic. The worst decision in the game was when a lions player crached into bryce carrol while going for a mark without even turning around to look at the footy. it was ahard thought win and the boys were a happy bunch. now southport at home and they can certainly be beaten

GREAT AND AVERAGE WEEKEND FOR THE HORNETS

On sataurday the aspley hornets state league team destroyed any hopes of a home final for the thunder with a domminant display of running and tough ruggard footy. It was a tight game in the first quarter and no team could get on top of each other. In the second quarter things swung the hornets way and they started to run and link up with each other and piled on 7 goals with the wind and tokk a 4 goal lead into half time. After half time the game was blown out of water in the space of 20 minutes of brilliant and herd nosed football. 8 goal to nothing against the wid in that period and it put the game well and truely out the reach of the thunder.. the last quarter was a training drill in the end and this time the boys didn't stop like the week before and played well to win that quarter. 1 sour note to come out of the game was. Brent Evans did his knee in an awkward move and he did his acl and will be out for 12 months

On sunday the state asscoiation took on coorparoo in their last game of the year. Coorparoo blew them apart in the middle quarter and ran out 22 goal winners. They had winners all over the park and most of those players are former Morningside reserves players and they just have to much class for this league and it showed