By Connor Burns
Coburg will be looking finish the season off in style this Sunday afternoon at Piranha Park. After a winless 2023 season the ‘Burgers’ have won five games this season and made major improvements on field. With such a young side, supporters should be excited about what they are capable of in the future.
It is already their best year since 2016, and the Lions will be looking to finish the season with a sixth win on Sunday. However, it won’t be easy as they come up against the 13th placed Bombers, who are stacked with AFL talent across all lines.
The likes of Will Setterfield, Elijah Tsatas, and Nick Hind will pose some challenges through the middle of the ground. While Peter Wright, and highly touted AFL draft prospect Jobe Shanahan, have both looked very dangerous in attack over the last few weeks.
Coburg are coming off a thrilling three-point win against archrival the Northern Bullants last weekend and will look to make it back-to-back wins. While Essendon are coming off a 12-point win against a strong Gold Coast side and are in good form coming into this clash.
Despite Essendon’s strong midfield mix, the Burgers will back themselves and their midfield to get on top of the Bombers, with young guns Joel Trudgeon and Flynn Gentile having brilliant seasons. You would imagine both men would be in strong contention for the club best and fairest, the Fothergill-Round-Mitchell Medal as the VFL’s most promising young talent and potentially the J.J Liston Trophy for the league’s best and fairest player, come the end of the season.
Cooper Keogh is one of three changes with Luke Kennedy and Dylan Laurie also making way from the team that defeated the Bullants last weekend.
Tom McKenzie and Will Bella are back from stints at their local clubs, while Max Kennedy has recovered from a broken hand to get up for the last game.
The Bombers have made five changes with Will Setterfield, Alwyn Davey Jnr, Solomon McKay and Noah Caracella coming into the side. Draft prospect Jayden Nguyen will also be coming into the team as the 23rd man.
Noah Caracella is the son of head coach Blake, who played nearly 200 AFL games across his career.
Make sure to get down to Piranha Park to support the boys as they look to finish the season with their sixth victory. The game starts at 1:05pm on Sunday at the fish tank.
