MACORNA’S time in the finals wilderness will end when they seek an upset against the highly competitive Hay tomorrow afternoon at Moulamein.
The Tigers’ last final was in 2012, when they lost to Murrabit by 37 points.
Macorna coach Scott Wishart told The Guardian there had been buzz around the club since they booked their spot a fortnight ago.
“Everyone’s pretty excited to be there, it’s been 11 years since we last played in a final and I think even I might have been playing that day,” Wishart said.
“The boys are certainly keen and there’s quite a few of them there that haven’t played much finals footy, and they are all pretty excited for the opportunity and to have a crack.”
It’s a similar story for opponent Hay, who last played finals in 2019 and are one of the form sides of the Golden Rivers competition.
The Lions pushed minor premiers Ultima last week, going down by just six points in a hotly contested match.
They defeated Macorna on all three occasions the teams met this season, including an eight-goal win at home just two weeks ago.
Hay coach Mick Cattanach expected his team’s game style to be well suited to the physicality and speed that finals football brings.
“I think we’re starting to play some pretty reasonable footy as a team in the second half of the season,” Cattanach said.
“Finals are a different game though and from our perspective, it’s going to go to another level and hopefully our boys can rise to that next level.
“We’d like to think that having a game style that’s built around being a contested team who runs hard, that should stand up in finals.
“We’d like to think we can be pretty competitive in a finals series with that focus on winning the contested ball.”
While the Lions will go in with an unchanged line-up from last Saturday, Macorna will bring back several players who were rested, including Harley Somerville and Jordan Simpson.
The midfield battle is expected to be a hotly contested one, with both coaches hoping to win the ball out of the centre early and gain the ascendency, with Wishart also well aware of the danger the posed by Lions key forward Declan Watson.
“Watson is a good target for them up forward and we’ve got some plans in place for him,” Wishart said.
“But with good players like him you can plan as much as you like, but sometimes it’s pretty hard to stop them anyway.
“Joel Crocker is another one who is an elite ball user for them, so we’ll be trying to limit how much of the footy he gets, because he really hurts you when he gets the ball in hand.”
For Cattanach, he too will be keeping a close eye on some of the Tigers’ prime ball movers and attempting to shut them out of the game.
“They’ve got some good footballers and we’ll have to keep a close eye on their midfielders,” Cattanach said.
“Guys like (Malcolm) Neiwand, (Shaun) Haffenden and (Nick) Ingleton, they’re all really good footballers and guys that will make us work really hard to win the ball around the stoppages.”
If the likes of Neiwand, Haffenden and Ingleton, along with Toby Whinfield and Alex Kirby, can find plenty of the ball, then an upset could well be on the cards – but current form would suggest it’s the Lions game to lose.
Tip – Hay to win by 19 points.
