Modewarre will welcome back four key players for Sunday’s cutthroat elimination final meeting with Geelong Amateur at Portarlington Recreation Reserve.
The Warriors, who find themselves in an elimination final after failing to go the distance with Drysdale in the final round, will welcome back four-time Les Ash medalist Josh Finch, key defender Michael Harper, small forward Baxter Anderson, and veteran Tom Hornsey.
Finch missed the loss to the Hawks due to AFLW coaching commitments with Geelong, Harper has been sidelined since the Round 15 loss to Torquay with a hamstring injury, and Anderson was unavailable.
35-year-old Hornsey, who has kicked 33 goals from 17 games this year, suffered an ankle injury against Newcomb.
“It’s nothing structural or anything like that,” Hovey said. “He had a scan, so it’s just a bit of bruising.
“With an ankle – if it’s sore – it’s hard to twist and turn and change direction.
“If it had of been a knockout final, he probably could have played and got a painkiller.
“But I didn’t want him to do that for a game like that.”
Sunday’s match marks the third consecutive elimination final meeting for Modewarre.
They defeated Geelong Amateur in 2022 and lost to Angelsea last year.
Ammos won the Round 1 meeting at Community Bank Oval by 27 points before the Warriors returned fire in Round 11 at KFC Oval with an 11-point victory.
“We’ll do a little bit of work on them, but most of our time (is spent) focussing on us,” Hovey said.
“We identify the opposition’s better players and try and get some match-ups that work for us.
“But, we won’t focus on them too much.
“We’ll worry about what we’ve got to do.”
In a K rock Football special event, the Geelong Amateur-Modewarre clash will be broadcast live on krockfootball.live from 1pm.
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