After twenty six rounds, its now down to the business end of the Victorian Premier League season as the six remaining teams battle it out for right to call themselves 2008 Champions. Here at the84thminute we take a look at the teams fighting it out and give our own prediction of who will we take out this year’s title.

Green Gully Cavaliers
Position: First
Points: 53
Record: 15W, 8D, 3L

Perennial finalists, Green Gully under the stewardship of the Ian Dobson were this year’s minor premiers, taking the title from close rivals, Melbourne Knights by a single point. The minor premiership was built on an impressive defensive effort lead by Kole Delev and captain Deak Fak, which saw the team from the north-west of Melbourne, conceding a league low of seventeen goals. Green Gully only suffered three losses for the season, those being against fellow finalists, the Knights and Richmond and a shock loss to State League bound Frankston Pines. Leading scorer for the Cavaliers was Joel Nikolic, who found the back of the net eleven times for the season. Next best, were fellow strikers Campbell Banks and Koce Delev with four apiece. This lack of firepower up front could cause problems for Green Gully in the cutthroat atmosphere of the finals, and they really need others to step up to support the dangerous Nikolic. The Cavaliers come into the finals on the back of three consecutive wins including a 2-0 victory over their first up opponents, the Melbourne Knights. It will be seen as a failure if Green Gully don’t make the final game of the season.

Melbourne Knights
Position: Second
Points: 52
Record: 14W, 10D, 2L

The only time this year that the team from Knights Stadium has looked less than impressive was when they were kitted out in their blue, red and white camouflage shirts which they sported early on in their 2008 campaign. Luckily, common sense prevailed and they soon returned to their traditional red shirts. Not that this effected their performance at all as it took until Round 20 for them to suffer their first loss of the season and that was against fellow stadium tenant, Coburg United. Under the command of Chris Taylor, the Knights have got the right mix of attacking flair and a miserly defence with excellent records in both areas. Their success can also be put down to their impressive ability to score goals at crucial times that allowed them either to grab a point or take all three. Leading goal scorer for Melbourne has been Andrew Barisic with an impressive seventeen goals so far this season. Although they suffered their only two defeats in the last seven rounds, the Knights will be brimful of confidence that they can win their first Victorian Premier League title since returning from the NSL. They are our tip to take the title.

Altona Magic
Position: Third
Points: 47
Record: 13W, 8D, 5L

The team from Paisley Park will be looking for their first championship since they won the last of their three consecutive titles in 1997. Athough not being the most spectacular of sides this season, the Magic have maintained a presence in the top six for most of the year and thoroughly deserve their position in the top three. Veteran Michael Curcija has been their leading goal scorer for Altona with fifteen goals with able support from Pece Cergovski, Esala Masi and Henry Fa’Arodo, who have found the net twenty-one time between them. Coach, Vlado Tortevski would be reasonably happy with the Magic’s form leading up to the finals having only lost twice in their last ten games. They would also fancy their chances to make it to the latter stages of the finals series especially with a first up clash against Preston, whom they comfortably dealt with in their last regular season match. Should be in contention for a grand final berth but may just lack the class to go all the way.

Heidelberg United
Position: Fourth
Points: 42
Record: 11W, 9D, 6L

After missing out last year, the team from the Olympic Village makes a return to finals action on the back of a consistent effort in 2008. The Warriors come into the finals on the back of consecutive wins and will look to build on this momentum in their quest for a first title since 2001. Of concern to the coaching staff would be Heidelberg’s inability to find the back of the net on a regular basis as their have the second worst goal scoring record of the top six. For the Warriors, they will be looking for more goals from Graham Hockless and Mark Tsiorlas, who are their leading goal scorers for the season so far, with seven apiece. Heidelberg should fancy their chances against Richmond in their elimination final as they have a good record against the team from Kevin Bartlett Reserve this season with a win and a draw in their two encounters. Unfortunately for Heidelberg fans, their team probably doesn’t have the goal scoring threats to go all the way in 2008.

Richmond
Position: Fifth
Points: 40
Record: 11W, 7D, 8L

Appearing for the first time in finals of the VPL, Richmond will be hoping to recapture some of the form of the first half of the season as they look to progress to the latter stages of the finals series. A team that has managed to find the back of the net fifty-seven times (ten more than any other finals contender) will surely pose plenty of problems for any defence. Leading the goal scoring charts for both Richmond and the VPL is veteran, Pablo Cardozo who has an impressive twenty goals in twenty-two games. Of concern to coach, Michael Chatzitrifonos would be the recent form of the Eagles, who have picked up three points only twice in their last in their last nine matches and have appeared to miss the influence of both Antun Kovacic (to the Newcastle Jets) and Semir Sevic (to a broken leg) in the back half. If the Eagles can get over Heidelberg in their first ever VPL finals clash, they may have the confidence to go further, but on recent form this looks unlikely.

Preston Lions
Position: Sixth
Points: 39
Record: 12W, 3D, 11L

Early on in the 2008 season, it looked like the 2007 champions could face the possible of relegation let alone have a chance to defend their title. But with seven wins in their last ten outings, Preston have managed to scrape into the finals. And with that kind of recent form, they will confident they can go back to back, although they will hope they can avoid fellow finalists, Richmond, who have scored ten goals against the Lions in their two meetings. Of all the finalists, Preston have the unflattering combination of the worst defensive and offensive records and this will be of concern to coach, John Markovski. For their goals, Preston will be relying heavily on Tony Sterjovski and Johnny Sapazovski, who between them have scored almost half of Preston’s goals for the season. Back to back titles looks unlikely for the Lions as no team in VPL history has taken the title from sixth position. Also coming up against Altona, against whom they lost 4-0 in the last match of the regular season, in their first finals match it looks nigh on impossible for the team from BT Connor Reserve.

Neil Zimmerman is the editor of the84thminute and also runs the Victory In Melbourne site. On most weekends Neil can be found at a football match, be it either A-League, Victorian Premier League or a match that he happens to come across whilst walking his dogs.

Photo credits: Brett Robson Photography on Flickr and Panos Photographics (Peter) on Flickr (front page) via the84thminute photo pool.