A GOOD old fashioned “kick up the arse” was the catalyst for Balranald’s barnstorming win, according to senior coach Jydon Neagle.
After defeating Woorinen by just seven points in the qualifying final, the Roos overran their highly credentialed Kerang opponents on Saturday.
Neagle said the Tigers game served as a wake-up call to his side, who will now go into the season decider in a fortnight confident their best footy can beat anyone.
“We were confident that we’d put up a good showing (against the Blues) – we got a kick up the arse the week before against Woorinen, which was probably what we needed,” Neagle said.
“We watched some tape during the week and showed a few poor efforts from the week before.
“We identified that we needed to be better in a few areas and got back to playing our brand of footy.
“Our ability to win the contested ball and our attack on the ball was the difference in the end I felt.
“Our spread from contest, along with our rebound from half-back was good as well, but it was winning the 50-50 ball and getting on top in contested ball that held us in good stead.”
Neagle will be hoping to emulate his father Merv, who led the Roos to premiership glory in 2004, in what will be his first grand final.
Speaking 24 hours after the victory, Neagle was still one cloud nine with his team’s performance and the manner they cut through the usually impenetrable Kerang defence.
“It feels very surreal, even doing recovery this morning the boys were all in great spirits and still in a bit of shock that we’ll be playing off in a grand final to be honest,” Neagle said.
“We’re really just a bunch of kids who grew up in Balranald, but we’re all up and about and enjoying our footy and we’re all excited for the opportunity.
“We didn’t think we’d be exactly where we are right now at the start of the season.
“We kind of thought we’d be close, but probably not quite there, but it’s all just clicking for us at the moment.”
While this week will be all about recovery and enjoying a well-earned week’s rest, the Roos will ramp up their preparations for the grand final with a solid hit out on Saturday before getting back into normality next week.
There was still one key question to be answered, concerning the availability of Nathan Ablett.
“Me and ‘Tommy’ (Lister) are scratching our heads a bit, we don’t know whether to change the side that just beat an unbeaten Kerang or not,” Neagle said.
“(Ablett) might not be right yet anyway, he’s certainly still a question mark at this stage, but he’s got a couple of weeks to get his body fit.
“At this stage, it would be really hard to drop anyone from Saturday’s side, but it’s a good problem to have, that’s for sure.”
