Goondiwindi have shown that they are no longer the easy beats of the competition and have steadily improved from their last place finish in 2012 to a grand final appearance on Saturday, a remarkable achievement.
Coolaroo have been there and done it before with 7 premiership victors over the last 14 years they are certainly the most successful club of the modern era on the Downs. Goondiwindi also have 7 premiership wins under their belt with the majority coming in the 80’s / early 90’s in their period of dominance with University.
Goondiwindi have not played in a Division 1 Grand Final since 2003 and haven’t won a flag in this competition since 2000 so you could argue that they are the sentimental favourites for Saturday’s main game. The Roos hold an edge over the Hawks winning their last 2 encounters by an average of 45 points which may have some physiological bearing in Saturday’s game. The Hawks will need to put this behind them and get back to the form they displayed at the beginning of season where they defeated the Roos by 35 and 4 points respectively. Both sides will look to discipline as an area for improvement after 6 players were sent from the field during the qualifying final match.
PREVIOUS ENCOUNTERS 2015
QF, 2015: Coolaroo 14.15 (99) def. Goondiwindi 8.4 (52)
Rd13, 2015: Coolaroo 15.12 (102) def. Goondiwindi 9.5 (59)
Rd11, 2015: Goondiwindi 18.4 (112) def. Coolaroo 10.27 (87)
Rd4, 2015: Goondiwindi 17.12 (114) def. Coolaroo 16.14 (110)
KEY MATCH UPS
Tom Rudolph V David O’Toole – What a match up this will be with 2 players that are very similar in their strengths. Rudolph and O’Toole both have the ability to win large amounts of contested ball and will bring other players into the game with their clever feeds from pack situations as they rarely get tackled to the ground. But probably the best weapon of these players is their ability to hit the scoreboard, and hit it hard. O’Toole has been used through the midfield and as a key forward this season kicking the second most goals in the competition while Rudolph has a very dangerous penetrating left boot and often scores from beyond the 50m arc.
Michael Langton V Jeremy Leahy – The battle of the running midfielders will be important, both players love the physical contest and are classy users by hand and foot. Both have exceptional pace and can change games on their own boot with their ability to break lines and carry the ball in 100m+ bursts. Langton is slightly more of an inside midfielder than Leahy but does still love the open field while Leahy will be brimming with confidence after his second straight Holman Medal victory only a week ago.
Alex Horsfall V Adam Scoble – Expect these two players to crash and bash into contests as they have done all season. Horsfall is the general for the Roos backline and has done so for quite some time while Scoble has the body strength to worry Horsfall in the 1 on 1 contest. Scoble returned to form last week against the Bombers in a powerful display up forward but will need to contain his aggression after being red carded in the last encounter between these 2 teams.
Last Modified on 28/06/2016 14:44
