NULLAWIL will go into tomorrow’s second semi-final as red-hot favourites to make it through to their third straight grand final when they face Quambatook on Saturday afternoon.
The Maroons’ only defeat for the season came at the hands of Quamby, with the two-point loss in round 8 shocking the competition and showing that the all-conquering Nully could be beaten.
Since that day, however, the premiership favourites have flexed their muscles, winning all eight games by an average margin of 101 points – including a 105-point thrashing of the Saints three weeks ago.
Quambatook were missing a number of key players that day and will be expected to put up a far better fight this time, with the Saints players also struggling in the heavy conditions. Ruckman Michael Bradbury will return in a major boost for Quambatook’s chances, while Ash Murray, Nick Mason and Michael Hahnel are expected to return after missing the Saints’ round 16 win over Macorna.
While their inclusions will give Quambatook a major boost, coach Tim Free was more concerned with their style of play when speaking with The Guardian this week – and was hoping his players come to play with much more intensity.
“We’ll have a fair turnover of personal between round 15 and the team we put together tomorrow, but to be fair it wasn’t a result based on personnel three weeks ago, it was more about the attitude (Nullawil) brought to the game and that we were a little bit off our best,” Free said.
“We’ll need to go to work on the weekend and come with a much higher intensity to trouble them – but certainly in different conditions and with different personnel, I think we’ll give a much better account of ourselves.”
It was an attitude endorsed by Nullawil coach Brett Barker, who also acknowledged that he expected to face a far different match this time around.
“We’re confident that we’ll put our best foot forward – but I’ll preface that by acknowledging that (Quambatook) had a fair few important players missing last time and I think the scoreboard probably flattered us,” Barker said.
“I’m confident that we have a good team and, if we play to our best, then we should get the result we’re after.
“Both sides match up really well across the ground – they have some really strong defenders, their midfield and ruck combination runs pretty deep and they have a pretty quick forward line that we’ll need to watch.
“Our midfield and our depth through there is our big strength.
“We have six or seven quality players that can run through the middle on any given day, but they have a great midfield too.
“They have some really good onballers that run all day and I’m sure whoever gets on top out of the middle will probably come away with the win.”
Free agreed, saying that in order for the Saints to cause the second upset of the season, his midfielders – led by Tobie Cameron, Ricky Wild and Pras Sayakhot – would need to lead the way.
“We need to at least break even in the midfield to be in with a chance – when we beat them earlier in the season, that was essentially where it was built from,” Free said.
“We won the contested footy, we were first for the ball and we were more ferocious at ground level.
“We have some dangerous forwards, whereby if they all play well together on the same day, then we’re quite potent up forward.
“If we can give them enough supply then I think we have an opportunity there that we can put some scoreboard pressure on. But if we don’t get the supply, then it’ll put our defenders under enormous pressure.”
While Quambatook have a deep forward line – with Ash Murray, William Collicoat and Nick Mason all capable of winning the game off their own boot – the same can be said about their opposition, with Mitch Farmer (76 goals), Andrew Oberdorfer (51 goals) and Andrew Casey (47 goals) dominating opposition back lines all season long.
While Quamby will be hoping the home advantage gives them the edge, it’s hard to go past the premiership favourites doing as expected – and going straight through to this year’s decider.
Tip – Nullawil to win by 27 points.
