FOR the majority of their battles over the course of Strathfieldsaye’s history in the BFNL, the coach of Golden Square has had the luxury of being able to pencil in Clayton Anderson for the job on dynamic Storm forward Lachlan Sharp.

The tenacious Anderson had long been one of the premier small defenders in the BFNL and a regular match-up on Sharp before his departure from Wade Street after last season to Mitiamo in the Loddon Valley league.

Which means that on Saturday when the two sides renew their rivalry Bulldogs’ coach Bernie Haberman will have to put his faith in a fresh opponent for Sharp, who is coming off a 17-goal haul against Castlemaine last week that propelled him back to the top of the league goalkicking table.

Haberman was keeping his cards close to his chest on Friday when asked about the match-up for Sharp with Anderson no longer there to take on the big job.

“We’d like to think our backline is fairly versatile, and even when you look at our talls in Will Lee and Michael Dalrymple, they are both fairly mobile,” Haberman said.

“The thing with Sharpy is he is such a unique player… he’s a really good overhead mark and he’s nippy like a small player, that’s why he’s so hard to match-up on.

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“Any good forward is hard to stop if the ball is coming down easy, so we need to make sure we’ll be able to give our backmen a chance to at least get a fist on it.

“It’s a bit of a cliche about what happens up the ground in the midfield, but I really do think that will go a long way to helping our defenders have a chance against Sharpy.

“Hopefully, we don’t have to use to many, but we feel we’ve got a few different players we can play on him.”

As well as the dangerous Sharp, the Bulldogs’ defensive group which has comprised Lee, Dalrymple, Brayden Dorrington, Braydon Welsh, Jake Trum and Nathan Holt for much of the year will also have to contend with the Storm’s Bryce Curnow, who will play his first senior game of the year.

Both the Bulldogs and Storm go into Saturday’s clash at Wade Street with 5-1 records and sitting first and third on the ladder.

The Bulldogs have two key midfield inclusions for the game, with Dale Lowry to play his first senior game of the season following a delayed start with a knee injury, plus the return of Adam Baird, who missed last week’s win over Kangaroo Flat through illness.

• BFNL round seven – Castlemaine v Gisborne, Golden Square v Strathfieldsaye, South Bendigo v Kangaroo Flat (Harry Trott), Sandhurst v Eaglehawk, Maryborough v Kyneton (Sunday).

GOLDEN SQUARE v. STRATHFIELDSAYE   

Golden Square

B: B. Welsh, W. Lee, B. Dorrington

HB: J. Thrum, M. Dalrymple, N. Holt

C: M.  Treacy, J.  Coe, B.  George

HF: B. Eaton, J. Burke, H. Morcom

F: D. Lowry, D. Johnstone, K. Stevens

R: M. Compston, J. Geary, A. Baird

Int: L. Humphrey, R. Hartley, H. Donegan, S. Young

In: D. Lowry, A. Baird

Out: A. Jenkyn,  L. Marciano 

Strathfieldsaye 

B: L. Bonney, B. Carroll, S. Heavyside

HB: K. Geary, L. Ratcliffe, K. Payne

C: F.  Payne, T.  Donnan, L.  Wallace

HF: S. Dwyer, B. Henderson, K. Smith

F: T. Coates, L. Sharp, B. Curnow

Foll: H. Crone, J. Moorhead, J. Formosa

Int: T. Dowd, B. Lester, L. Gill, S. Geary

In: S. Heavyside, J. Moorhead, K. Payne, B. Curnow, B. Henderson

Out: J. Heavyside, J. Shannahan, S. Murphy, H. Lawrence, J. Donaldson

SOUTH BENDIGO v. KANGAROO FLAT   

South Bendigo

B: B. Torpey, D. Nalder, B. Wright

HB: N. Howe, J. Miller, T. Brereton

C: M.  Rogerson, Q.  Johnstone, Z.  Hare

HF: L. Furness, L. Miller, J. Swatton

F: A. Coad, K. Antonowicz, B. Harvey

R: C. Crisp, L. Bartels, B. Haddow

Int: C. Daniels, J. Connaughton, J. Sheahan, I. Miller

In: B. Wright, J. Sheahan, J. Connaughton, J. Miller

Out: K. Strachan,  J. Thurgood,  B. Drechsler,  J. Sheean 

Kangaroo Flat 

To be selected from:

M. Despott, T. Harbrow, C. Rinaldi, N. Lang, M. Holt, L. Murphy, C. Greer, M. Filo, D. Klemm, T. Verbeek, L. Needs, L. Ly, L. Collins, D. Spear, C. Williams, D. Wust, J. Doherty, A. Pearson, B. Etherington, R. Turner, S. Maddern, J. Sampson

In: M. Despott, J. Sampson, J. Doherty

Out: D. Hogarth, K. Symons, N. McHugh

CASTLEMAINE v. GISBORNE  

Castlemaine

B: M. Noonan, T. Hedley, R. Pedretti

HB: A. Robins, S. Nettleton, J. Johnson

C: L.  Mitchell, K.  Huntly, J.  Chester

HF: W. Moran, D. Atkins, D. Semmens

F: J. O'Brien, Z. Denahy, S. Moss

R: B. Blake, F. Brancatisano, J. Smith

Int: J. Wootton, S. Banko, J. O'Neil, H. Bassett

Emg: N. Woodman

In: S. Nettleton, T. Hedley, K. Huntly, N. Woodman

Out: J. Dole,  J. Watson,  A. Banko 

Gisborne

B: R. Baker, H. Simpson, J. Reaper

HB: D. Wyatt, J. Grabham, E. McKenna

C: R.  Paterson, J.  Lynch, R.  Celano

HF: S. Bell-Bartels, T. Wood, C. Williamson

F: A. Belcher, C. Young, J. Conolan

R: J. Owen, M. Goodyear, E. Minns

Int: L. Rodgers, M. Steinbach, P. Trotta, T. Crosbie

In: T. Crosbie, J. Grabham

Out: S. Ramsay, L. Spear

SANDHURST v. EAGLEHAWK  

Sandhurst

B: J. Hann, J. Wilkinson, I. Ruff

HB: J. Pallpratt, N. Tanner, C. Price

C: J.  Zimmer, A.  Parry, T.  Strachan

HF: B. Holmes, A. Collins, J. Wharton

F: M. Gray, O. McKinley, N. Stagg

R: T. Martin, Z. Broadbent, L. Coghlan

Int: M. Leyden, D. Morris, L. Ross, A. Wharton, B. Worme

In: M. Gray, D. Morris, N. Tanner, J. Hann, B. Worme, A. Collins, 

L. Coghlan

Out: M. Dole,  L. Ireland,  S. Greene,  Z. East,  O. Perez,  D. Graham

Eaglehawk 

B: J. Dickens, T. Miles, J. Bateson

HB: G. Daly, C. Davies, D. Williams

C: R.  Saunders, S.  Harper, G.  Hommelhoff

HF: J. Fallon, B. Conforti, S. Williams

F: J. Bowe, J. Neaves, S. Knott

R: C. McGlashan, B. Collins, B. McPhee

Int: B. Thompson, J. Collins, R. McIvor, O. Madden, D. Hanley

In: J. Collins

MARYBOROUGH  v. KYNETON   

Maryborough 

B: M. McClure, T. Roughead, C. O'Shea

HB: L. Bucknall, B. Malone, Z. Polinelli

C: C.  Freeman, B.  Lavars, J.  Hooper

HF: Z. Egan, W. Sultana, J. Fraser

F: M. Kennedy, J. Postle, L. Bond

R: E. Grech, J. Templeton, J. Long

Int: C. Rowe, D. Lewis, D. Carter, M. Miranda

In: D. Lewis

Out: J. Hayward 

Kyneton 

B: E. Foreman, P. McCarthy, O. Power

HB: J. Exell, D. Davie, T. Kelly

C: H.  Huntley, J.  Govan, L.  Chisholm

HF: H. Govan, N. Brazil, C. Barry

F: M. O'Sullivan, J. Ward, J. Mangan

R: D. Harris, R. Magin, B. Mahony

Int: B. Hinneberg, D. Kelly, K. Clark, H. Moore