The Standard |
MERRIVALE coach Karl Dwyer believes his men have peaked at the right time as they seek to end an eight-year premiership drought today.
The Tigers meet reigning premier Panmure in the Warrnambool and District league grand final at Reid Oval today and enter the clash as hot favourites.
They upstaged the Bulldogs by 41 points in the second semi-final and watched with fresh legs as the reigning premiers progressed to the preliminary final.
Dwyer, in his first season as coach after crossing from Koroit, said the Tigers needed to execute their running game plan as they had in the past month.
“When we’re playing good footy, each player knows their role, they stick to it. It’s a committed four-quarter effort, that’s what we’ll need on Saturday,” he said.
“I suppose we are peaking at the right time of the year. It’s hard to go past the last month.
“You take out that Dennington game and the other three we’ve held teams under 10 goals. We’ve been pretty solid in the way we’ve moved the footy.”
Dwyer said the Tigers had Jade Kelson — the brother of former coach Stephen “Jack” Kelson, who died in 2012 — speak to them on Monday night.
“Jack’s footy philosophy was based around effort. You can have as much talent as you want but you’ve got to have that effort to go with it,” he said.
“And he spoke about the jumper and what it means, it was really good.
“It was good for me as someone who has been around for five minutes and good for the blokes who were born and bred at the club.”
The second semi-final was the third of three Merrivale-Panmure encounters this season. The ledger stands 2-1 in favour of the Tigers.
But Dwyer said previous results meant little entering today. He was part of the Koroit side which beat Warrnambool three times last Hampden league season before the Blues turned the tables on grand final day.
“We’ve got to be prepared for them to do different things because obviously they will,” he said.
Panmure coach Simon O’Keefe said the Bulldogs had learnt much about the how the Tigers played during their last two meetings.
O’Keefe said playing in the preliminary final had been beneficial for the side and injected a much-needed dose of confidence.
“Last week, to really grit our teeth together (was good). Dennington put up a solid effort. To outplay them and outrun them was really pleasing,” he said.
O’Keefe said the Bulldogs had to stop the Tigers’ spread from stoppages and outside run. But that did not mean playing ultra-defensive.
“At the end of the day, against any good side, you’ve got to attack. We’re not going to go into our shells and play a defensive game,” he said.
“We’re going out to win the game. But on the flipside you’ve got to have the defensive side of the game. That’s not just defenders, it’s onballers and forwards manning up when we turn the ball over.”
