Lions Dan Sieber, whose start-of-the-season form earned him the opportunity of representing the Northern Zone at the SA Country Football Championships has struggled to retain the form that won him that honor.

Heading into the final rounds of the season, Dan must capture that form and help guide the young brigade of talented players Lions have in their hands. Clinton O’Connor is hungry for the ball and with two best on ground performances in his last two games will lead from the front with his speed and agility.

Daniel Pine and Shaun Edwards are forming a fantastic tandem on the last line of defence and given they are young and as skinny as goal posts pays homage to their grit and determination. Dean Steele’s elevation from the B Grade in round 10 is proving to be a calculated move, with Steele creating the triple threat in defence with his silky smooth use of the ball and ability to read the play three kicks ahead of his direct opposition player.

This game should see the Lions remove the bogey and defeat West on their home turf, however if they are unable to, it will be a hard, long road to the finals.

Port take on leaders...Neville Thomson

Port v Central Memorial Oval

The Port bulldogs will take on the current leading team in Central Augusta here at Memorial Oval on Sunday, Central have won their last four games since they were defeated by the green and whites at Port Augusta in round nine by thirty three points.

The bulldogs on the other hand have only lost one match out of their last six games played and that being to Lions in round ten, so both Central and Port have been in good form during the past month in the middle part of the season.

Centrals only managed to shake off lions late in the game last weekend and it was probably only the height of the central side that cost Lions a win, the bloods have big players all over the ground with Shane Curnow, Peter Jackson, Joe Quigley, captain Mark Fuller who played at centre half back last week and Ashley Fullerton.

Key bulldog forward Matt Gale has been in good touch in recent weeks and so far in 12 games played he has kicked fifty six goals, but the last time that these to sides played he was well held and only managed two goals and on that occasion Jamie Jackson was at full back for the bloods. Sean Dawson and Quigley contributed well last week for central against lions kicking seven and six goals respectively so Port will need to contain these along with Garry Hull Jared Reid and not to forget Ryan Morris who has kicked thirty six goals so far this season but did have a quiet game last week.

The bulldog defence led by captain Ben Luitera, Chris Stephens, Aaron Featherstonhaugh, Aaron Casey has had the least amount of points kicked against it so far for the season and this week will endeavour to keep this in tact.

The on ball battle will be a beauty with Michael Burford, Norm Wombat, Tom Clarke and Andrew Fleming working well together over recent weeks but they need to be at their best again this week as Jackson, Curnow, Dawson and Nick Callery who was centrals best player the last time these sides met can cut a side to threads if they are let to run loose.

Central need to win to remain clear on top of the ladder, where as the bulldogs need to win if they are to give themselves a chance of a top two spot, if Port manage to win and Lions can defeat West at Port Augusta this Saturday then this will happen following this round.

There has been no love lost between the two teams since the 2008 grand final when Port won by the solitary point.

I am selecting the bulldogs to win in a close tough game.

Solomontown v South Augusta Memorial Oval

Although the bottom two sides play each other at Port Pirie on Saturday, there is a huge difference in the form and structures of both sides.

South Augusta is second bottom on the ladder with five wins for the season while Solomontown is firmly entrenched on the bottom with no points to show for the year.

South Augusta is a far better side than Solomontown as their results have shown this year.

The Bulldogs were defeated by Port in the last round while Solomontown held their own against West Augusta last weekend for three quarters before being over run and eventually going down by 55 points. These two sides have met twice this season with the Bulldogs recording easy victories on both occasions.

The pace and superior skill of the South Augusta players has given them an edge over the Cats and they have used this to their advantage.

In both encounters Todd Kernahan and Darren Shillabeer were dominant and Solomontown had no one capable of shutting them down.

Nothing much has changed for the Cats and they again will have trouble keeping Kernahan quiet as he has continued with his good form in recent weeks.

Chris and Michael Heron are another two players who have been playing well of late and along with the pacy Bradley Amos and Daniel Dohnt, South Augusta should have too many guns for the Cats.

Solomontown has been relying on Craig Tee to lead the way and his duel in ruck with the in form Brock Laube will be one to watch.

Lindsay Bearman has had a very good year and he must be a chance to win the club’s Best and Fairest award. Matt Turner has been carrying an injury of late but his form has picked up and is contributing more as each week goes by.

Solomontown’s youngsters have impressed at times and again last week Nick Redman and Aiden Malchow featured in the best players.

This is a good sign for the Cats and while they continue to impress along with James Moyse and Hayden Cox there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

South Augusta should bounce back from last week’s loss and record a solid win to keep themselves in with a chance of sneaking into the four and playing finals football again.