Leongatha and Maffra will do battle for the remaining spot in the 2015 TRFM Gippsland League grand final this weekend.
After finishing on top of the ladder with a second chance in hand, Leongatha will have to go about it the hard way after being upset by Traralgon in last weekend’s second semi-final.
“You want that guarantee of being in a grand final, but having another week off wouldn’t have done us ay favours, so having to do it the hard way is going be a good thing for us,” Parrots coach Beau Vernon said.
“They were just a better side on the day. They made the most of our turnovers.”
Still, the first year coach isn’t lacking confidence heading into Saturday’s preliminary final at Morwell Recreation Reserve.
“I’m feeling reasonably confident. If we play the brand of footy we know we can play, we should be confident,” he said.
Leongatha got through its finals opener unscathed, however it is expected to once again be without Aaron Heppell.
“Obviously he’s a quality player and we would love to have him in the team… but he hasn’t played with us for five or so weeks so we are used to not having him,” Vernon said.
The first-year coach wouldn’t be drawn on which one of his defenders would get the job on the league’s leading goal-kicker Darren Sheen, who last week kicked his 300th goal for Maffra in just his third season at the club.
Vernon’s counterpart at Maffra too is keeping his cards close to his chest.
“There’s two teams in the prelim and one of those is going to make it through to the grand final … I’m hoping it’s us,” Eagles coach Wayne Butcher said.
“They’ve been on top all year, they’ve been the side to beat all year, so it will be a big challenge. We will go in as underdogs and the pressure should be back on them, and deservingly so, they are a good side.”
Like Leongatha, Maffra lost its first final to Traralgon, before coming back from 20 points down in the last quarter to beat Wonthaggi Power in Sunday’s first semi-final.
“The results show any side in the top three can win it, I think it’s going to be very close,” Butcher said.
Until 2003, Leongatha and Maffra had met in just two finals, a semi-final in 1973 and the 1989 grand final, which the Parrots won by a mere two points.
Since 2003, they’ve met in another six finals, the most a recent a heart stopper in the 2012 Preliminary Final, when Maffra came back to beat Leongatha by the narrowest of margins.
More recently this year’s results have seen the visiting team return home with the points, with Maffra being the only side this year to beat the Parrots on their home turf.
A Maffra win would see Leongatha become the first minor premier since 1993, when the then Latrobe Valley Football League adopted the final five series, to miss out on a grand final berth.
One club that will be watching the result of Saturday’s preliminary final closely is Traralgon.
“Our coaches will go down to Morwell for a look… but we will play whoever, it doesn’t bother us,” Traralgon coach Mark Collison said.
The Maroons' win over Leongatha last Saturday earned the third-place finishers a berth in next weekend’s grand final.
However, Collison was under no illusions about the challenge at hand.
“To run out the game the way we did was really, really positive and well-deserved, but the hard work starts now,” he said.
“We wanted the boys to enjoy the (semi-final) win, we went back to the club and enjoyed it together. You have to let them have that release otherwise it’s a long two weeks, but we said to the boys it is back to work on Tuesday night and now we knuckle down."
Last Modified on 17/09/2015 17:20
