It’s here, can you feel it? Finals football. September is upon us and spring is in the air. Ankles are strapped and hammies are tight.
Star Weekly sports reporter Daniel Paproth casts his eyes over the Victorian Football league finals which begin on Saturday.
Let us know which team you think has what it takes. Leave a comment below or hit us up on Twitter @StarWeeklySport or Facebook Twr Sport.
ELIMINATION FINAL 1
Collingwood vs Sandringham
Victoria Park
Saturday, August 30, 2pm
Last time: Rd 10, Sandringham 14.20 (104) d Collingwood 8.12 (60)
Collingwood come into the finals in impressive form. The Magpies won their last four games of the home-and-away season, including crucial wins over last year’s grand finalists Box Hill and Geelong. They get the bonus of a home final at Victoria Park, where a vigorous, parochial crowd will be on hand, with the AFL side set to miss finals. Sandringham’s form has been harder to read; they ensured themselves of finals with an impressive away win against Werribee – and beat Collingwood comfortably at home – but there have been losses to Frankston and a 129-point thrashing at the hands of Geelong. A lot will depend on AFL availability.
KEY PLAYERS
Collingwood: Lachlan Ferguson has been a mainstay of the VFL side all season. He’s played 18 games and also popped up with 25 goals. Captain Jack Hellier has hardly played a bad game. And if Quinten Lynch is denied a farewell game in the AFL he will be important – he kicked five goals against Bendigo last week.
Sandringham: Inspirational skipper Adam Cockie will lead from the front. Never shirks a contest. Former Sandringham Dragon player Kenny Ong has been possibly the best of the TAC Cup players to come into the side this year. Will help if the likes of Saints Trent Dennis-Lane, Sam Dunnell and Spencer White are available; they are the Zebras’ three leading goalkickers.
WORD FROM THE CLUB
Collingwood coach Dale Tapping: “The boys are really excited. Our last month has been really good. We’ve fought through some really tough situations in games and found a way to dig deep.”
Sandringham president John Mennie: “We had a really good start to the year before injuries at St Kilda and for us. Collingwood are in a similar position to us with their well-documented injury issues. I think it’s going to be a really good tussle and if we can get over them we’ll get a few Saints players back.”
QUALIFYING FINAL 1
Port Melbourne vs Box Hill
North Port Oval
Saturday, August 30, 2.10pm
Last time: Rd 8, Box Hill 13.14 (92) lt Port Melbourne 15.9 (99)
The average margin between these two teams in their past four games has been just seven points. They seem incapable of playing a bad game, and Saturday’s qualifying final should be no different. Port Melbourne looked all but gone at the end of last season, having been thrashed by Williamstown in a semi final. But they lost only twice in the home-and-away season, having gelled a new group together in impressive fashion. But with the backing of Hawthorn, Box Hill has been dangerous all season, and has the firepower to test Port’s resolute defence – they booted 26 goals last week.
KEY PLAYERS
Port Melbourne: Toby Pinwill plays his 150th game this weekend. The hard-as-nails midfielder has enjoyed a career-best season now that he is injury free, and is sure to feature prominently in the Liston Medal voting Monday night. Dan Connors has kicked 38 goals in 12 games.
Box Hill: Sam Grimley ended up with a share of the Frosty Miller Medal after kicking 13 goals in his last two games. Sam Iles has played every game this season and been named in the best in nine. Jordan Kelly is in a rich vein of form and don’t forget evergreen captain David Mirra returning from injury.
WORD FROM THE CLUB
Port Melbourne coach Gary Ayres: “It’s an achievement [finishing first] so we’ve ticked one box off. We had to give ourselves the best possible chance heading into the finals. The guys have been on an upward curve. I think all the teams in the top eight are probably capable of beating each other so it’s now about being at your best when you need to be.”
Box Hill coach Marco Bello: “Not surprisingly everyone is up and about. It’s not hard to motivate players and we have some good form going in. These games between us are always good and this will be no different. Both teams are in good form, we’ve got a few players returning from injury.”
QUALIFYING FINAL 2
Footscray vs Williamstown
Whitten Oval
Sunday, August 31, 1pm
Last time: Rd 2, Williamstown 15.8 (98) d Footscray 7.15 (57)
There is some nice poetry that these two teams meet in a final. Up until this year, they had been linked, but both decided to stand alone in 2015. Williamstown recruited strongly and only lost four games, the last of which was to Box Hill in round 15. In their last five weeks they scored at least 100 points on four occasions. Very little can be read into their clash in round two, as Footscray have been much more impressive since. Their best win came against Port Melbourne in round 10, and if they can match that form they will be very hard to beat – but it was only a week ago that 12th-ranked Richmond very nearly beat them.
KEY PLAYERS
Footscray: Jordan Russell has thrived for Footscray this season after being delisted by Collingwood at the end of last season. Has played all 18 games and been in the best in half of those. Brett Goodes can always be relied upon at this level, Fletcher Roberts continues to impress in defence.
Williamstown: Ben Jolley has been one of the VFL’s best for a long time. Committed and tireless and a ripping bloke to boot, he has had another standout year. Northern Blues recruits Adam Marcon and Kane Lambert were just as consistent in the blue and yellow, while former Werribee forward Scott Clouston has kicked 28 goals.
WORD FROM THE CLUB
Williamstown football manager Chris Dixon: “We had a slow start to the year but we are really pleased to have earnt our spot in the top half with a pleasing back half of the year. It’s going to be a huge challenge at Whitten Oval this weekend with an expected crowd of 10,000 people and both teams have been in really good form.”
Footscray coach Chris Maple: “We’re very excited to be playing a home final back at Whitten Oval. We’ve had great crowds all year and it’s a nice opportunity for our supporters to come and see the young boys. As for Williamstown, we can’t pick who, when or where we are playing so for us it’s neither here nor there. We just have to bring our best game. They will be very keen and they gave us a touch-up in round two.”
ELIMINATION FINAL 2
Werribee vs North Ballarat
North Port Oval
Sunday August 31, 2:10pm
Last time: Rd 13, Werribee 15.16 (106) d North Ballarat 12.12 (84)
When the two North Melbourne-aligned clubs met in round 13, the Tigers came away with a solid win and were sitting third on the table. But they won only two of their next six games, against lowly Northern Blues and Frankston, and lost three consecutive home games. First-year coach John Lamont will look to uphold Werribee’s strong record in finals in recent years, but his counterpart Gerald FitzGerald has been there countless times before. He knows the club and knows how to get his players up for the contest. The Roosters must rebound from a mammoth 111-point smacking at the hands of Port Melbourne.
KEY PLAYERS
Werribee: Mason Wood has been perhaps the Tigers’ best player this season. He recently inked a two-year deal with North Melbourne and has been in the best nine times. Jarrod Moore has emerged as one of the best leaders at the club. Ben Warren has had a quiet season by his standards but remains the most dangerous forward.
North Ballarat: Liam Anthony has been unlucky not to play more football at North Melbourne this season, such has been his form at VFL level. Ballarat’s very own Nick Rippon has enjoyed a stellar year in the midfield while Tony Lockyer has haunted VFL forwards’ dreams all year.
WORD FROM THE CLUB
Werribee general manager Mark Penaluna: “We’ve had both seniors and development qualify for finals for the first time in three years so we’re very happy with that. There has been no focus beyond the weekend. We had to win last week to get into the finals and while we did beat them earlier this year North Ballarat have beaten us in the finals before.”
North Ballarat football manager Marg Richards: “They are all preparing as they normally would, just with a bit more excitement around the place. Finals are a different beast. It’s always an interesting game with the two North Melbourne affiliates and we’re reasonably confident going into the game. We have a much younger team than in the past but they’ve had a good year.”
