Minor premiers ROSEDALE Blues and third place Heyfield will square off in a mighty North Gippsland Football Netball League Grand Final clash at the Traralgon Recreation Reserve.

GRAND FINAL: ROSEDALE v HEYFIELD

The road to the big one has taken two very different paths for the competing sides. For first year senior coach, Ben Macreadie, it has been a fairytale season at the helm of the Blues with his side playing one match in the past three weeks to challenge for the Holy Grail.

Referred to as the September specialists renowned for performing at their best throughout endless finals campaigns, the powerhouse dominance of HEYFIELD hasn’t been as prevailing as it has in the past. Coach Damien Birss quick to note that despite his side’s third place finish they were only one point away from missing finals action and being relegated to sixth. Instead the Kangaroos have taken their chances to secure a fourth straight tilt at premiership glory.

Both coaches see the midfield battle as integral to the result it is a question of which midfield set up can inflict the most damage and set up the power forwards at either end of the ground. The Blues’ engine room perhaps holds the edge over Heyfield.

League Team of the Year members, Macreadie and Dale Fleming can quickly turn a game and were instrumental in the side’s semi-final victory against Heyfield. Likewise was Rohan Diamond who stood tall in a dominating performance, which saw him run amuck from half back and along the wing drilling the ball into the multi prong forward structure.

But while Rosedale’s engine room is impressive, they are set to meet classy opposition with the trio of James Conway, Adrian Cox and Josh Stubbe, the main instigators in Heyfield’s dominance of the centre clearances throughout the final series.

Leading from the front runner up league best and fairest winner Fleming will no doubt draw the attention of Heyfield’s taggers in an effort to halt his impact, with Macreadie and Adam Diamond to also gain attention with their run setting up passages of play for the Blues. In contrast Stubbe will be committed to winning the contested possessions, Andrew Lambie will be marshalling the backline in his usual fashion and Matt Goodwin is likely to shade one of the Blue’s key play makers while endeavouring to break lines and set up Jesse Bedggood, James Beha and Leigh Brown in front of goals.

THE COACHES

There will be mixed emotions for one coach as he bows out of the coaching caper, taking to the helm in his last game in the big one against the club that gave him his first opportunity to turn his hand to coaching.

“I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity that Rosedale gave me to coach when I finished playing,” said Birss.

“To be coaching my last game against the club that gave me that opportunity, in the grand final, with the club (Heyfield) that I have enjoyed great success with over the journey I will be hoping that the footy gods are smiling down on me.”

It will be a case of the master and the apprentice doing battle as the new kid on the block endeavours to outsmart and manoeuvre the experienced campaigner.

An experience campaigner he is, Birss will take a fifth side through to the big one. Such is his experience on the big stage Birss boasts the remarkable stat of having been involved in 13 grand finals as either player or coach in a 17 year period in the league.

While many make comment about Birss’ lack of success as a coach on grand final day, the coach brushes it aside noting that he takes a glass half full approach to it.

“People target the negatives, I tend to look at the positives,” said Birss. “It certainly isn’t my focus my run of results. Sure you want to win, but at the end of the day I have coached five teams in five years that have gone through and had an opportunity to play in a Grand Final.

“Since 1997 the Heyfield Football Club has played in 13 senior grand finals in 18 seasons. Only two players in the side don’t live or come from Heyfield and both of them have played for us for the last four seasons.

“We continue to be one of the top two teams year in year out. We are nowhere near the strongest team in the competition on paper, but if you keep persevering you will eventually get there.”

In a turnaround from last season the Kangaroos have the unenviable task of halting the Blues if they are to claim their first senior’s flag since 2012. Ironically Heyfield’s last premiership came against Rosedale and their then coach Birss. The Roos coach won’t be losing any sleep over his side going into the clash carrying the underdog tag and perhaps will relish the pressure being placed on the opposition.

“There isn’t a team that I would rather take in as underdogs then this team,” said Birss.

The sides have met on three occasions with Heyfield yet to claim bragging rights. Their most recent encounter a fortnight ago in the semi-final which saw the Blues bolt towards the gate, slamming it shut, with a nine goal straight premiership term.

While Birss and his coaching panel have taken as he describes as a number of calculated risks, with his chargers winning the critical games to get them to this point, the master will know that he will need everything to fall into place come Saturday against a class outfit knowing that it will be a tough, tight, physical contest against a side that will be confident of their chances.

“Their midfield brigade is unprecedented. They have eight to 10 quality midfield/half forwards, I haven’t seen as good a group in the one team since I’ve been in the league,” complemented Birss.

“They are a quality midfield, there is class throughout their team. We need to find a way to restrict their scoring ability.”

While pleased with his side’s efforts, the man at the helm is a realist and only knows how hard it is to win the title.

“The biggest thing is that it is all about the group/team performing on the day, how they handle the pressure leading up to and on the day and how they get the job done,’ said Birss.

For the apprentice Macreadie, who returned home to the club he played at in his earlier years, the new coach has tweaked the list and game plan to great success.

“I wouldn’t say that we have exceeded any expectations,” said Macreadie.

“The group finished fourth last year and we added some players to that group and with that had some belief that we were on the verge of something.”

With just the one win needed to complete a fairy tale season Macreadie isn’t getting too far ahead and is confident that his young side can handle the attention in the lead up to game day.

“We will train as usual this week and will be looking to get ourselves in the right frame of mind. The week break for us is fine. We managed with it the first week and we have gone about it in the same way again,” said Macreadie.

“The group isn’t one that needs reminding of becoming complacent. They are all level headed young men. They have been part of losing grand finals and know that pain.

“There is no reason for any complacency to creep in whatsoever.”

Like his counterpart Macreadie has studied intently the opposition’s game plan and knows that past results will account for nothing come the final siren on Saturday.

“There are a number of areas that will have influence over the game, but I guess none more that the midfield battle,” said Macreadie. “We need to limit their inside 50’s which will go a long way to us having a chance of winning. There are a number of players that will be needing a close check. We pride ourselves on that every week though.

“No matter the opposition, we respect and defend where needed and attack where possible.

“There has been an even spread of contributors every week for us and that must continue for us to be a chance this weekend.”

In a prelude to the main event minor premiers Heyfield and Churchill will take centre stage in the RESERVES.

Saturday’s grand final berth is the Kangaroos’ ninth in an 11 year period; while the club has dominated the competition they however haven’t shared that same success on the big day having only won three titles since 2005, and will go into the contest against the Cougars confident that they can break this trend.

Holding strong in the preliminary final, the Cougars were impressive and have had to navigate the long road to the big one. With the ledger at one a piece, Churchill claiming the honours in the opening match of the season winning by two goals, before the Roos took the four points in the second half of the season.

With experienced campaigners and a mixture of youth in both line ups a toss of the coin might be the best way to decide who will be victorious.

TTU THIRDS coach Nick Albanese will be at the helm of the young Bombers who will be out to reverse the disappointment of last year’s grand final loss.

Both the Bombers and Glengarry have travelled through the season rarely troubled by the opposition each week so much was the two side’s dominance over the competition.

The ledger stands in TTU’s favour with the Bombers railroading Glengarry a fortnight ago to advance to the grand final following a 18 point victory. Glengarry will again need to raise their game to another level, as they did in the preliminary final, if they are to claim the under 18 competition title and know that they are not too far off the mark having claimed bragging rights in round 13. On the other hand TTU will be out to make amends for last year’s loss in the main dance, and will look to a number of their key play makers named in the league team of the year including Nick Miller, Zane Spiero and Zach Kilgower to rise to the occasion.

By Lauren Carey