THIS is a really interesting game with the Saints being able to chase down a seven-goal lead to snatch their round 17 game by a point and the Raiders having the better of them up at Myrtleford earlier in the year.
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The Saints are a really balanced side. They have good depth through the midfield with blokes in there who can hit the scoreboard as shown by Christian Burgess kicking 44 goals for the season.
The Raiders have a massive advantage around the stoppages with Hayden Heta giving them first use. He is a real barometer for them and can really dictate if he gets on top.
Jydon Neagle is their everywhere man and is one of, if not the best player in the comp.
He has a capacity to win his own footy, is fantastic overhead, kicked over 30 goals for the year and is the bloke who gets behind the footy when they are under pressure.
Brad Murray and Leigh Corcoran need to decide if they back their mids in or they shut one of the Raiders down.
The obvious one to sit on if they do is Steve Jolliffe, he has ability to get on the end of the Heta dominance and to run hard and rack up possessions.
The question mark is if he can be an influence with a hard tag.
Daryn Cresswell has his back-end well drilled and with the quality of Dean Heta and Jack Di Mizio, they will be hard to kick a winning score against.
The biggest concern for Daryn and his team at the moment is they are not finishing games off well but with the quality they have on their list, as well as a bit more finals experience, I would expect our neighbours to get the job done.
- Tip: Wodonga Raiders by 11 points