This Saturday will see two Peter Jackson VFL heavyweights go head to head in a must win Semi-Final, for the right to continue in the competition.
The Casey Scorpions take on Williamstown at Casey Fields, in what will no doubt be a contest defined by which team can most adapt to the volatile conditions.
The Scorpions enter this encounter having spent the majority of the latter part of the season at the top of the ladder. However, their recent finals history does not provide them with the comfort that they would hope for, having gone out in straight sets in the last two years despite a double chance.
Coach Brett Lovett believes his side will be assisted this weekend with an experienced group of leaders out on the ground.
“We have had some good leaders come through the side throughout the year including players like Brad Green and Brett Moloney. However, with the list we have we will be looking to our entire leadership group for guidance and experience. The likes of Evan Panozza, Luke Tynan, Tom Corry, Jordan Gysberts and Tom Couch have shown great leadership qualities during the season, but everyone will need to stand up on the day and give a collective effort to win.”
These two sides have not met since March so it is unclear how they will match up on one another.
“It’s hard to know a lot about Williamstown as we haven’t played them since Round One, but having looked at stat’s throughout the year it seems that Ben Jolley and Brett Goodes who were selected in Team of the Year are key players for the side. You can’t hamper a player for an entire game, but we hope to limit their use of the football enough to give ourselves an advantage.”
Finals often bring about a different looking contest to regular season matches and with Spring in full force, this game will be dependent on uncontrollable aspects of the great game. The Scorpions understand the power of their unruly surroundings, being restricted to a mere three goals last weekend.
“The conditions at Casey have been very windy two weeks in a row now. The ball seems to make its way into the far pocket and get trapped there. I think we defended well against the breeze last week but it needs to work both ways. It is easy to defend when the ball travels right down the centre so we need to learn to switch the play and open up our forward line.”
However, Lovett still believes that having a home game will benefit his side.
“We are all creatures of habit, so it will no doubt be an advantage to have our own change rooms, lockers and regular system of preparing for the game. We need to take advantage of that and kick the game off well to start with a lead and put them on the back foot,” Lovett said.
Williamstown are well aware of the challenges they face at Casey Fields. Football & Development Manager Chris Dixon considers his Club to have their own insight into the ground.
“We’re pretty lucky that Peter German is very familiar with the conditions out at Casey having coached there for a year in 2009. Unfortunately the conditions last week at Casey weren’t susceptible for free flowing entertaining football but we need to be prepared for whatever conditions Saturday may produce.”
Like Casey, the Seagulls know that they need to have a strong start on Saturday and convert on the scoreboard. Last weekend saw the side come away with a 12 point win over Bendigo, but they did it the hard way without scoring a major in the first term.
“ Statistically our first quarter wasn’t that bad in terms of the fact we were getting our hands on the football but we probably weren’t using it as well as what we would like. Whether that was because of a few nerves I’m not sure – we’ll certainly need a better start this week against Casey.”
Williamstown approach this game knowing full well the challenge that awaits them when the first ball is bounced.
“I think it’s been pretty well documented that Casey have been really good at winning games when they’re in the balance. We saw that in Round One when the just pipped us at the finish line. They didn’t finish on top of the ladder by luck and we know it’s going to be a huge challenge for us to beat them on their own ground. Some of their VFL listed players have really been performing well in the past few weeks so it shapes as a great encounter.”
The Seagulls have an impressive finals history to look back on, but whether this can be continued with their young side is yet to be seen.
“If you have a look at our side from last weekend we only had four players who played in our 2011 Grand Final side, so there’s actually not that much experience. We’re an extremely young side, 15 of the players who played last Saturday are under the age of 21 and have come out of the TAC Cup system in the last three years. I’m not sure everyone is actually comprehending just how young and inexperienced our team is. We’re just going to keep backing our young players and it’s important that the experienced players around them, the likes of Jolley, Goodes, Wall, Lockwood and McNamara, keep providing the leadership and direction they have been,” Dixon said.
View the match live on ABC TV at 2:00pm on Saturday 8th September.
Last Modified on 07/09/2012 12:17