THE DECIDER: Unlikely rivals ready for big dance
AFL CAIRNS | GRAND FINAL
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PORT Douglas coach Brad Cooper says he’s not surprised to be facing Manunda in the AFL Cairns grand final.
“They’ve got a heap of talent,” he said on the eve of the decider at Cazalys Stadium.
Yet even the most optimistic pundit wouldn’t have predicted the Hawks to be squaring off against the Crocs for the ultimate prize tomorrow. After all, it was only two years ago they were booted out of the senior competition for boycotting a fixture against Port Douglas.
It has been a meteoric rise back to the brink of premiership glory.
“The rebuilding started in 2015 when we weren’t playing,” said Manunda coach Marc Harbrow.
“Our committee, with a never say die attitude, just kept going. They stuck it out. They identified me to come in and take the senior role in 2016 and hopefully recruit not just 25-30 blokes, but 50. You need a reserves side for your depth, and we successfully did that.
"I’m confident they seen this (grand final) coming.”
Making the finals this year was a feat in itself for the Hawks, yet here they are; the only team standing in the way of back-to-back premierships for the Crocs.
“I’ve watched them closely over the last five or six weeks, so we’ve got a very clear idea of what we’re up against,” Cooper said.
“When we played them earlier in the year they were very close to rolling us. They can probably look at that result and think they were unlucky not to win.
“We’ve got to make sure we turn up and play our game style.”
That ‘game style’ is yet to experience defeat this season and netted 19 straight wins. Harbrow is under no illusions of the quality at Port’s disposal but said they’d be focusing on what they do well.
“It’s a game of footy. In grand finals, you’ve got to turn up to play,” said Harbrow, a former Manunda premiership player.
“There is no use talking about game plans this time of year. You should already be fit; you should know your game plan. It’s more about mentally turning up ready to play.
“We’ll focus on our game. What we do is working.”
Working well enough to trouble the reigning premier on the big stage? That looks a bridge too far. The Crocs punished the Hawks in a 132-point rout in round 15 and if Harbrow's side is even slightly overawed by the occasion tomorrow, a similar result is on the cards.
Cooper admitted he’s had selection headaches since they booked their third grand final in four years with a comfortable semi-final win over Centrals Trinity Beach - the same team the Hawks knocked off last week.
Headaches because he can't fit 30 players into 22.
“It’s the toughest part of any grand final, selection as a coach,” he said.
“But we’ve spoken about this a long way out, about investment in training and how you prepare and what you do, because it can be a game of inches in regards to the result, and it can be a game of inches in regards to your spot.
“So there is going to be some heartache and all successful clubs have it.”
The silver lining is the players who miss out on selection still have a grand final to play, with the reserves also taking on South Cairns.
“I’m sure whoever it is that runs out in the senior team will give a good account of themselves,” Cooper said.
For a team so ruthless in its domination this year, we’ll know tomorrow afternoon if that was an understatement.
- MEGA PREVIEW
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