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Round 2 - ABL Review & Predictions
Last week end the 2009 ABL season finally got under way, suprisingly none of the home teams were able to notch a first round win.
Below is a brief review for this weeks games including predictions.
Woodville v Centrals
After a strong start at Hillcrest including a Monster triple Double from Cameron Wilson and support on the Interior by Josh Knight, Woodville will look to go a healthy 2-0 with a solid win v recent rival Centrals at home.
Centrals have heart and strong on court leadership but that can only get you so far, Import Oliver Prince should be a handy pick up once he finds some fitness but will struggle v the athletic Knight.
Woodville by 14.
Southern v Eastern
Eastern got off to a flyer against West but were unable to maintain that pressure for the full 48 minutes. Outscored by almost 20pts in the second qtr proved their undoing as they were reasonably competitive in the second half, or so the stats say.
Southern got off to a shocking start v Centrals and would not want to be giving anyone another head start. Whilst new import Morris coasted for a lazy 19,12 & 4 it was the new breed of Tigers that got the job done, Boal (24pts)Bungey (19,10 4blks)Braithwaite (16pts) Florance (15,7) & Brown (15reb).
The battle of Hill v Morris will be worth the price of admission alone, they dueled in the Big V last year, now its Adelaide's turn.
Depth will prove the difference Southern by 16.
Sturt v North
North will be hoping its seasoned veterans can stay healthy this year as they have the large weight of expectation to carry. Whilst they are missing some familiar faces they would have expected to get the first round win v Woodville. With Tracey at the helm you can bet they will be competitive every week but that first W wont come this round as they will be greeted by early flag favourites Sturt.
Sturt may have suprised many last week by playing young juniors Claybrin Mcmath, Corey Maynard and Tom Daly for extended minutes, but with the guidance of Darren Ng and stalwarts Gower and Bowley, the result was never in question. To think they have some dude called Jacob to add.... a few teams will be gulping when the double blue walks in the door.
Sturt by 9
West v Norwood
West weathered an early ambush by Eastern in the hills and looked to set a new ABL record with attempts behind the arc. With some strong recruiting in the pre season including an A1 coach few would have thought it would be the rough and tumble duo of Adam Pearce (5/6 behind the arc & the leagues version of a pitbull) and Shane "crusher" Crothers (18pts on 10 shots) to break the game open.
Norwood had the grand final rematch v Forestville albeit missing some key faces in Cooper and Mathews. In what many people described as the early front runner for ugliest game of the year (neither team had 8 points after 6 minutes) Norwood fell to a barrage of triples from Cameron wood in the last qtr to eventually fall down by 8 points.
This will be match of the round and is almost to close to call, but due to home ground advantage and perhaps the only team in the league to out match Norwoods team bravado im going with West by less than 7.
Forestville v South
As above Forestville got the hard win and retribution v Norwood in a rugged and scrappy affair. Things wont get any cleaner this week as they face a South Adelaide team that would be bitter about their performance at home against a Sturt team ripe for the picking (if there was ever a time it was the first round).
If South can stand up to the bullying of the Eagles they may be in with a chance...but... rookie coach Bayliss will find it hard to please all in his first year and rotations could prove the difference.
Eagles to take care of business by over 15.
There you have it folks, 5 away wins in the first round and im backing 5 home wins in the second!
Feel free to comment and flame if so desired.
