Stanhope has a point to prove to the rest of Kyabram District League this weekend according to senior coach Mark Adamson.
The Lions have been impressive since they dropped their only two games of the season, to Lancaster and Nagambie, and have won their past five matches in dominant fashion.
Adamson’s charges have brushed aside challengers around them — Longwood (53 points), Tallygaroopna (108 points) and Avenel (87 points) — in recent weeks, yet on Saturday they have another chance to test themselves.
Stanhope faces a road trip to take on ladder-leader and unbeaten outfit Shepparton East in what is a headline clash in round nine action.
“Absolutely, everyone is looking forward to this weekend,” Adamson said.
“Early on when we played Nagambie and Lancaster we were very average, but I think we’ve come a long way since then. We understand this is a big test for us, they’ve been the yardstick all year long.”
Adamson noted Shepparton East’s “engine room” as one area of the ground to be wary of.
The Eagles boast talented ruck Tom McCluskey, while skilled on-ballers Adam Fichera, Zac Groombridge and Jeromy Aynsley round out a dangerous midfield.
Adem Barolli is still under an injury cloud, while the Eagles are set to miss important players Shannon Campbell, Simon Russell and Tyler Pedretti ― who suffered a season-ending knee injury last month.
“Their on-ballers can push forward and hit the scoreboard and they’ve got lots of options in front of goals,” Adamson said.
“Their backline has been restricting sides too, so our forwards will need to work hard.
“We know we have got to lift our standard on Saturday. If we can’t lift in areas across the ground then we won’t reach a level required to beat the top teams.”
For Stanhope, Tom Rennie took his season goal tally to 25 with another five last week, while his brother Jake, played further afield and was instrumental in the team’s strong second half inside 50 count.
Goal-kicking winger Jonathan Pearson was prominent with two goals, while utility Nathan O’Reilly has been included in Stanhope’s top performers for the past few weeks and continued on his strong season.
On Sunday, the OneFM team will be calling the senior football clash at Undera Recreation Reserve between the Lions and Nagambie.