AFTER playing out one of the most memorable finals in recent memory a fortnight ago, the Mallee Eagles and Nyah-Nyah West United will again do battle for the last spot in this year’s Central Murray grand final.
Two-time reigning premier Kerang await the winner, as both clubs focus no further than tomorrow’s cut-throat final.
It’s a stage that’s not foreign to the Demons, who just 12 months ago were monstered by Kerang in an 81-point preliminary final thrashing that started with the Blues kicking eight unanswered goals in the first quarter.
It’s a moment in time NNW United will be aiming to put behind them, with Demons co-coach Jason Murphy telling The Guardian his team were much better placed this time around.
“We got our work done early in the season and were able to secure a top-three finish pretty early, which allowed us to manage our list a little bit better in the run home,” Murphy said.
“We’re definitely in better nick (than last year), we had to redline all the way to last year’s preliminary final, whereas this time we’ve been a bit more strategic after doing the hard work earlier in the season.
“There were games where ‘Walshy’ (Joel Walsh) for example could have played, but we kept him out and I think that’s paid off with his form over the finals so far.
“The boys are keen, they were running on top of the ground on Tuesday night, we were going to have a light night on the track but they wanted to go a bit harder, which is always a good sign.”
The Demons will regain the services of key defender Joel Campbell after serving his one-match suspension, and a decision on the unlucky omission was to be made closer to the first bounce.
For the Eagles, they were expected to go have an unchanged line-up from last Saturday’s 19-point loss after Brent Macleod, Harry McGregor and Darcy Hourigan were passed fit.
Hourigan and Post returned from injury last weekend and will be key inclusions to the qualifying-final Mallee line-up that defeated NNW United by four points.
Eagles co-coach Harry Allen was expecting a vastly different game.
“That game at (Lake) Boga I think is almost irrelevant because the conditions were so poor and it’s so hard to get a read on either team as a result,” Allen said.
“Both teams weren’t really able to get their games going in the wind, so I’d expect Saturday to be a pretty different contest.
“I think it’ll come down to class and polish, which is pretty much what happened last Sunday, (NNW United) just had too much class for Balranald across the ground.
“Having Darcy (Hourigan) and ‘Posty’ (Post) back, they’ll be two pretty big inclusions from when we played them last time.
“(Post) is massive for us at either end, but particularly in our back half, he supports Joe (Halloran) so well in the air and provides that tall target to peel off, intercept and allow the likes of Zac O’Meara and Harry McGregor to stay quite attacking.
“We can throw him forward if we need and he gives us another option down there if we need, but I think he’ll start down back.”
Post will no doubt be important in helping the Eagles quell the influence of NNW United spearhead Brandyn Grenfell, who returned to form with seven goals against Balranald last Sunday.
The other player for Allen and his Mallee teammates to watch will be Joel Walsh, with the Demons playmaker not only stopping many of his opposition’s forward entries, but setting up many of his own team’s attacking plays.
“Grenfell’s a key at one end and then ‘Walshy’ up the other end, they’ll be the two magnets that we’ll be watching,” Allen said.
“If we can nullify both of them, which will be really hard to do because they are such good players, it will go a long way towards us getting the win because (NNW United) are pretty reliant on those two playing well.
“Both teams have pretty contrasting game styles, but I feel like we’re starting to get that balance right between our inside and outside game.
“I felt we exposed Kerang a little bit on a couple of fronts on the weekend, but obviously (NNW United’s) bread and butter is their run and carry game and if we give them room, they’ll take full advantage.”
The Demons will be hunting Mallee’s inside contested ability, with Murphy acknowledging it was an area where they let themselves down in the qualifying final.
“Around the contest, especially in the first half, is an area we’ll need to improve on,” Murphy said.
“Our ego took a hit that day and they had the better of us on the inside.
“We spoke about it before last weekend about our kids becoming men and I think we saw that on Sunday, they stood strong in the contest against some really good players and now they’ll have to do it again.”
Tip – Mallee Eagles to win by four points.
