The North Eastern Football League kicks off this Saturday with the 2008 season promising to be one of the most exciting ever.
With players coming and going from various clubs throughout the off-season the results for the first few weeks of the competition will be anyone’s guess.
Round one commences at Burra with Burra-Booborowie-Hallett taking on North Clare. BBH finished sixth in 2007 while North took home the wooden spoon.
BBH, with Peter Whittlesea in his debut year as A Grade coach, heads into this season with a couple of players missing from last year and a few players arriving to start afresh at the Rams. The club has lost Aaron Spicer and Jason Rodda to the Barossa, Light & Gawler League but has recruited Tim and Michael Dalla from Victoria, Josh Davis and Nick Stacey from Jamestown-Peterborough, and former captain Casey Cooper is back from Canada.
Craig Jaeschke is making his coaching debut at North and they have also recruited well with Shaun Ribbons back at the Roosters after a two-year stint in the Barossa. Adelaide Plains Mail Medalist Josh Hollitt and Northern Areas Mail Medalist John Nicholas will also line up for North. Ben Wandel joins his two brothers at North, Grant Jaeschke has returned and Scott Darmody is another new face at the club. Rhys Marsh and Jack Arbon will be missing from last season.
This game has all the ingredients to be labelled the match of the round with both clubs on the way up. They have both been successful in their pre-season hit-outs and I believe this game will go right down to the wire.
Bevo’s tip: BBH by 15 points.
In a replay of the 2007 first semi-final South Clare plays Mintaro-Manoora at Clare. Min-Man put an end to South’s season and went on to play in the 2007 grand final.
Bill Lokan is back at the helm of the Demons with Peter Cloke as his assistant. South has picked up a couple of key recruits over the summer with Will Bradley joining the club from Glenelg. Bradley was very impressive in the trial game against Jamestown-Peterborough sending home five majors for the afternoon while using his strength in the midfield. Ryan O’Neill has come to the Demons after playing junior footy for South Adelaide.
Min-Man will be coached by David Wood in his second season at the helm of the Eagles. Former SANFL League player Brad Curry has signed with Min-Man from Central District and he will be a handy asset for the club in 2008. Sam McDonald comes down to the Eagles from the Northern Territory and Steve Baraglia will be donning the Min-Man guernsey after recovering from a leg injury. The club will miss the services of Robin Carter who has retired from the game after a successful stint in the NEFL. Todd Miles is in Adelaide playing for Woodville-West Torrens Eagles but he might be back in 2008.
South will be raring to go after last year’s final series and I reckon they’ll be too good for Min-Man.
Bevo’s tip: South by 33 points.
Reigning premier Blyth-Snowtown will host Brinkworth-Spalding-Redhill at Snowtown. The Cats took out their second consecutive premiership in 2007 while the Tigers avoided the wooden spoon on percentage.
Blyth-Snowtown with Bugsy Thomson in control for his fourth season with Simon Goldsmith as his assistant will be without the services of a few quality footballers in 2008.
Simon Wiese and Patrick Keain have moved on from the Cats, Todd Michael will miss the entire season after injuring his knee in last year’s grand final, Nathan Zweck is having a year out of footy after having his jaw snapped in the grand final and Nick Humphrys won’t be available every game due to work commitments. One major “in” for the Cats is the return of gun on-baller Ryan Darling who has returned to the club from Sturt. Matthew Noble will be a handy acquisition up forward after recuperating from shoulder surgery.
Butch Smith is back in the NEFL coaching BSR having previously coached Blyth-Snowtown to the Grand Final in 2004. The Tigers haven’t picked up any major recruits for 2008 but they haven’t lost any players either. The club is in the middle of a rebuilding stage and they will be hoping for their younger players to continue improving this season. They cannot afford to rely on players like Paul Meyer, Craig Weckert, Paul Jones, Adam McKenzie and Sid Nicholls to carry the weight. The younger brigade will need to step up to the challenge.
Blyth-Snowtown won’t let this one get away from them and they’ll win comfortably.
Bevo’s tip: Blyth-Snowtown by 60 points.
The final game of the opening round is between Riverton-Saddleworth-Marrabel-Uni ted and Eudunda at Riverton. RSMU was second on the ladder at the completion of the minor round in 2007 before losing both the second semi and the preliminary finals. Eudunda finished fifth with ten wins.
Shayne Willmott has stepped up from the B Grade to take on the coaching role of the RSMU A grade this season. The Hawks have lost a few players from last year but they’ve recruited pretty well.
Brian Leys and Adam Greaves, who had early showers during last year’s preliminary final, won’t be at the club this season. Also missing from 2007 are Corey Pressler and Justin Keatley. The Hawks have picked up Clayton Crabbe from Port Adelaide, Jamie Williams who has played with Central District and Craig Mullins is back at RSMU after playing with Centrals for a number of years. The Hawks defeated Freeling in their first pre-season trial game and were defeated by Kapunda in their second trial.
David Cluse is in his third season as coach of Eudunda and, like most of the other clubs, they’ve lost a few and gained a few players.
1997 B Grade Mail Medalist Anton Schiller is back at the Roosters along with Chip Greenwood who had a good year with Kapunda in 2007. Kym Bissett is also back at Eudunda with Troy and Jay Johnson signing with the Roosters from Kapunda. Daniel Pearce has also signed with the red and whites. A few major outs for the club include Callum Rohde, Andrew Pech, Rowan Prior and Shane Gepp. Eudunda played united at Long Plains in their opening trial and went down by a couple of goals. The following week they beat Adelaide Lutheran in Adelaide.
The Roosters will have a fair dinkum crack but I reckon the Hawks will be too strong at home.
Bevo’s tip: RSMU by 47 points.
Bev the bookie’s odds for 2008
To make the final four: Blyth-Snowtown 1 to 5, RSMU 1 to 5, South Clare 1 to 2, BBH evens, North Clare evens, Min-Man evens, Eudunda 2 to 1, BSR 5 to 1.
To win the premiership: Blyth-Snowtown evens, RSMU evens, South Clare 6 to 4, BBH 3 to 1, North Clare 3 to 1, Min-Man 3 to 1, Eudunda 8 to 1, BSR 12 to 1. I wouldn’t mind betting these odds change after seven rounds.
Change to playing times for under-14s
The playing times for the quarters in the under 14 competition has been extended by 2 minutes in 2008. The quarters will now run for 14 minutes with the under-17s starting 10 minutes later than usual at 11.10am. For more changes to the rules in the NEFL for 2008 check out Mick and Bob’s umpires report on Page 38.
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