Aspley vs. Moreton Bay
These two sides have only lost three matches between them over the course of the home and away season, meaning the best type of grand final is on offer; one played between two teams who really hate losing.
Aspley goal kicker Lachlan Harris looms as a key player in the contest, after booting 100 goals so far this season.
Moreton Bay coach Lee Whitehorn believes his midfielders and defenders must work hard to cut off his supply.
“If you can keep him to under 5 then you’ve had not a bad day on him,“ said Whitehorn.
The Lions have had a more even spread of goal kickers, Jonathan Giles and Bryce Bodsworth finishing up on 52 and 48 goals respectively, making them more unpredictable and just as dangerous if the Moreton Bay midfielders can get on top.
Aspley coach Brent Evans recognizes the danger that the Lions forwards pose, but he has total faith in his backmen to get the job done.
“Our back six is a pretty good back six and we match up well on the Moreton Bay forwards. So, we’ll back our back six to do a job on those two and that will go a long way to securing the result,” said Evans.
While during the season the Lions had the advantage over the Hornets, winning two of their games, Aspley got their revenge in the semifinals, getting up by an impressive 82 points.
Whitehorn puts that loss down to finals inexperience in his young side, who still have belief for the premiership this weekend.
“It was a bit overwhelming for them. The boys have definitely got belief, they’ve played really good footy all year,” he said.
Evans thinks late season momentum and fnals form led to the semifinal win over the Lions, as well having a healthier roster to pick from.
“We come into some pretty good from late in the season and, we got some players back into the side that had missed games through injury,” said Evans.
It should be a ripping contest, as the two top teams of the competition go head to head for the ultimate footy prize at South Pine Sports Complex Brendale at 2pm this Saturday.
Robina vs. Aspley (Reserves)
Aspley has been exceptional in the Division 2 Reserves this season, winning all 18 of their home and away games, as well as winning their last three before the finals by an average margin of 78 points.
Then they came up against Robina in the semi finals and suffered their first defeat of the season, going down by 22 points to the accurate Roos, who kicked 13 goals 4.
“We’ve just got to out tackle them, that’s pretty much the key,” said Robina coach Michael Kranz.
“I think that’s our biggest strength, we out-tackle, win the footy and get it long to our talls deep.”
It sets up this game as an exciting matchup, not just because there’s a flag on offer, but because a challenge has been thrown at the seemingly invincible Hornets and we’re about to see how they respond.
The danger man from Robina’s perspective has to be Hornet Nicolas Laube, who’s kicked 68 goals for the season and has the ability to get off the chain if not closely attended.
Lining up at the other end and requiring just as much attention, will be Robina spearhead Ryan Weterings. Weterings has 55 goals to his name this season and is capable of turning the game with a good quarter, as is his teammate Ryan Simpson (33 goals).
This one looks like a thrilling contest, as Aspley chase redemption against an in-form Robina on the footy calendar’s most important day.
By Sean Melrose and Aaron Goodwin
