THERE is only a fortnight left of the VNL season, but in terms of finals, much is yet to be decided and with SSN Reserves finished from a Victorian perspective, it is only going to get tighter.
As the competition stands, the City West Falcons are the only ones safely in the finals and only four other teams are still in contention to join them – Boroondara Express, North East Blaze, Hawks and Geelong.
Just to add some intrigue to the equation is fifth placed Geelong has the bye this week, and its percentage is about 10 points behind fourth placed Hawks, so realistically if the Hawks win this week, the only hope for Geelong is that if the Blaze lose their last two matches by enough to catch North East’s percentage. The Hawks play Casey in Round 21, so there is every chance the brown and gold will get the win this week.
Unfortunately for Geelong, there is a strong chance the Blaze will actually grow their percentage this week because they take on Melbourne Uni.
Someone else who could do with a percentage boost this week is the Express, who take on the Saints. The Express are currently in second, and need to keep winning and get any percentage boost they can to keep the Blaze and Hawks at bay.
It leaves two matches that do not have any weight on how the finals race is shaping up.
Bendigo will be looking to continue to finish out their inaugural season on a high when they take on the Waves tonight, while the Falcons will be looking to continue to tune up for finals when they take on the Warriors.
VNL Round 21 Fixture
North East vs Melbourne Uni
Peninsula vs Bendigo
Southern Saints vs Boroondara
Hawks vs Casey
City West vs Western Warriors
Bye – Geelong
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