Weekly Times |EMERALD coach Jason Bek is aiming to take the demoted club from zero to hero in the Yarra Valley Mountain District league Division 2 grand final on Saturday.
The Bombers have rebounded from a season in which it was relegated from the premier division to finish with 14 wins this year.
Emerald now finds itself one win away from promotion back to the big league.
Bek, in his first year as Bombers coach, said the turnaround was inspired by last year’s disappointment.
“I think the players were hurting after last year,” he said.
“That group of players took responsibility of the fact they delivered the club to Division 2, and those boys have taken responsibility for getting the club off its knees.”
Bek believed the returning players had harnessed their bitterness to drive the revival.
“That word has been our theme for the year — redemption,” he said. “I’m not afraid to say that that word has been mentioned a lot this season.”
Despite Emerald easily accounting for Kinglake on three occasions this season, most recently by 78 points in the second semi-final, Bek said its grand final opponent would command his side’s “full respect”.
“Those results mean nothing ... it starts nought-nought and it’s about what happens on the day,” he said.
Kinglake earned a fourth and final crack at the Bombers, pulling away from a wayward kicking Seville to win by 17 points last Sunday, 13.9 (87) to 9.16 (70).
Bek said the performance of Bombers captain Matthew Livermore and midfield duo Caillin Porter and Luke McKenna would be “critical” to his side prevailing, but a good spread of contributors would also be important.
Since arriving at Emerald, he said the club had managed its expectations for this season.
“We thought we would be around the mark but we never thought we would just walk into a grand final,” he said.
“In fact, we haven’t walked into anything — we’ve had to work really hard to get there.”
