The showpiece of the Pindan Premier Grade is before us as Nedlands and Associates meet in Sunday’s grand final at McGillivray Oval.
Fittingly, Nedlands and Soaks finished first and second respectively on the ladder after the regular season.
The two teams met a fortnight ago in the major semi-final when a fast-finishing Nedlands came from behind and cruelly stole the match – 22-18 – with the final play of the game.
The fallout from that game meant a week off for the minor premiers while Associates took the detoured route to qualifying with a convincing 39-5 victory over Cottesloe in last weekend’s preliminary final.
Nedlands coach Tony Ball was a keen onlooker last weekend and believes his team can learn from Cottesloe’s mistakes.
“I thought Cottesloe allowed them to play the way they wanted to play,” he said.
“They moved the ball much wider and gave Kyle Godwin too much room to move and that can’t happen this weekend.”
While reviewing the major semi-final, Ball noted areas where his team must improve to beat the Swanbourne-based side this weekend.
“We just have to control the game after half time. We overworked our forwards and didn’t control the territory that we needed to in that semi,” he said.
Meanwhile, Associates benefitted greatly from last week’s sudden death win over Cottesloe according to coach Andy Cole.
“We spoke about certain structures and we carried out those structures, it’s always a big thing coming up to finals,” Cole said.
Cole provided a blunt assessment of what Associates need to do differently this weekend against Nedlands.
“We gave them a 10-point head start [last time] and didn’t finish,” he said.
“Neddies is too classy a team to let them do that. We just have to play for 80 minutes and hopefully we’ll come away with a win.”
For all the form and favourtism that gets thrown around in the lead-up to the grand final, one only has to look at last year’s result to see what surprises ‘the big dance’ is capable of producing. On that day an unlikely University humbled Nedlands, 15-13, to win, only a fortnight after suffering a 65-13 thumping from the men in blue.
One thing both coaches agree on is that the hype surrounding this year’s Pindan Premier Grade grand final is justified.
“I think this should be the best grand final that’s been played in this state for a few years,” Ball said. “Both teams have taken a lot of confidence out of their semi-final wins and the two best teams will be playing this weekend.”
Soaks boss Andy Cole was quick to support that claim.
“We’ve both got good attacking records; there are quality players in both sides. I think it will live up expectations and be a cracker,” Cole said.