After three weeks of play, the Southern Tablelands Football Association's All Age Men competition is off to a scintillating start, as several early contenders have emerged.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Currently sitting at the top of the ladder are the Goulburn Strikers FC, who have won all three of their matches to date. They are closely followed by the reigning premiers, Stags FC, and Wollondilly Soldiers, who have both won two and drawn one of their matches.
The top three are followed, in order, by Crookwell Red, Workers FC, Crookwell Griffins, MBK, and Stags 97.
There has been all variety of matches in the first three rounds, from nailbiting finishes to absolute hammerings, many of which involved the top three teams.
The Strikers have arguably been the most consistent side throughout the early rounds, as all three of their wins have been comfortable without being extravagant, hence their for-and-against of 12 goals to three.
The Stags, meanwhile, have been more mercurial. After their first-round draw against Workers FC, 3-3, they dominated Stags 97, 13-1, and soundly beat the Crookwell Griffins, 4-0, last weekend.
Wollondilly have a similarly lopsided for-and-against ratio of 18-3, with their only draw coming last round against the Workers FC, 3-3, which followed 6-0 and 9-0 thrashings of Stags 97 and MBK respectively.
As the top three have begun to establish themselves as the teams to beat in 2020, there have also been a couple of dark horses emerge.
The first is Crookwell Red. As Crookwell soccer has once again entered two teams in the All Age Men's competition for the first time since 2018, the Red side has scored some resounding wins.
They got their season off to a strong start against MBK with a 3-0 win, which was followed up with a narrow 2-0 defeat at the hands of the Strikers. Crookwell rebounded from this loss last weekend in emphatic style, 11-2 against Stags 97.
Following Crookwell Red, in fifth place, is Workers FC. Although they have a middling record of one win and two draws so far, their draws have come against Wollondilly and Stags FC. With a little more luck, the Workers might have been level first on the ladder by this stage.
The Griffins, MBK, and Stags 97, in sixth, seventh, and eighth positions respectively, have showed glimpses of promise up to this point, but have been unable to string form together for long enough to claim any victories. They will need to work hard to climb away from the bottom of the ladder.
This weekend's matches contain several intriguing fixtures, the most closely watched of which will likely be the second-versus-third clash between Stags FC and Wollondilly, which will take place at Cookbundoon 1 from 3pm on Saturday, August 8.
The other AAM matches this Saturday are: MBK against Crookwell Griffins at Cookbundoon 3 from 1pm, Workers FC vs Crookwell Red at Cookbundoon 3 from 3pm, and Stags 97 vs Goulburn Strikers FC at Cookbundoon 6 from 3pm.
While you're with us...
Did you know the Goulburn Post is now offering breaking news alerts and a weekly email newsletter? Keep up-to-date with all the local news: sign up here.
