Queenscliff will make at least one change to its team for Saturday’s Bellarine grand final after a hamstring injury suffered by Jordy McIvor-Clark in the preliminary final win over Geelong Amateur ruled him out of the decider.
“He’s had a scan early in the week, and I think it’s a grade 2,” Coutas captain Caleb Whitley said.
“And given his hamstring history, unfortunately, and coming back from a broken jaw, he’s had a pretty shit run this year.
“So, unfortunately, not the way it’s going to go.
Attention now turns to whether Izaak Grant, who missed the victory over Ammos with a groin issue, will take his place.
“He seems pretty positive on the way he’s tracking,” Whitley said.
“So, yeah, it’ll be a Thursday call for ‘Jammo’ (coach Heath Jamieson).”
Torquay look likely to take in the same team that beat Queenscliff in the second semi-final, with Hamish McGowan and Hugh Trigg both expected to play.
Triggy and Hammer are pretty good to go, I think,” Tigers co-captain Ben McNamara said.
“They trained a bit on the weekend, and then they’ll train this week
“I’m not on team selection, so I’ll leave that to the coaches.”
EXPERIENCE NO ADVANTAGE
Torquay, which went back-to-back in 2023-24, will enter the clash with 12 players who have won a BFNL premiership.
Nine are multiple premiership players, with Max Hurley and Billy Henderson in rare air at McCartney Oval as three-time winners.
Jake Hedley, who returned for just his second senior appearance of the season in the preliminary final, is the lone survivor of Queenscliff’s golden era, when it won three consecutive flags from 2011-13.
However, McNamara, who has played in two premierships with the Tigers and two under Jamieson at GFNL club St Joseph’s, has played down the discrepancy in Bellarine grand final experience.
“It’s nice having been there, and I think being comfortable in that pressure environment,” he said
“But also, young teams thrive on pressure,
“I feel Queenscliff are a really good unit. While they might not have had their finals experience, they’ve got guys like (Nick) Rippon, some good players in there and senior players that will lead them.”
A SPECIAL NUMBER
Recent tradition decrees that the captain of Torquay wears No.5 in honour of one of the greatest Tigers of all time, the late Rodger Boak.
McNamara, who shares the captaincy with veteran James Darke, will wear the 5 on Saturday.
In a perfect world, he would have been back in the No.18, with Boak’s son, Travis, who returned to the club this year after a 19-season AFL career, wearing his father’s number.
However, a knee injury suffered in the win over Anglesea ended his dream of being part of a Torquay premiership.
“He’s played a big role in the group,” McNamara said.
“(The) football fairytale would be that he runs out with us on Saturday, but unfortunately that’s not to be.
The relationship I have with Trav and Chicky… I hope that I’ll wear the five and wear it proud for them and for what Rodger means to the club.
NEW FACES PLAY KEY ROLES FOR THE COUTAS
One of the busier teams in the Bellarine off-season, it’s fair to say Queenscliff hit the target with its recruiting.
Nick Rippon, Jaydo Wright, Sam Kalbfell, Trent Thompson and Billy Jones have had a massive influence on the Coutas, taking them from a straight-sets exit in last year’s finals campaign to a spot in the decider.
“Trent Thompson’s played in a couple of flags at Leopold; Nick Rippon’s played some seriously good footy; Billy Jones… he’s played a lot of footy as well,” Whitley said.
“So just adding that maturity and some older heads in different line groups has helped drive these young fellas that we already had.”
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