Thomson co-captain Sam Jacka says the hurt of last year’s grand final loss is driving the club ahead of Saturday’s grand final against the Belmont Lions.
The Tigers will feature in their fourth decider in five completed GDFNL seasons but are 1-2 in that period.
After a controversial start to last year’s contest, where Inverleigh’s Ryan Robertson collected Thomson star Jahd Anderson in the opening moments, Jacka admits the Tigers were on the back foot.
“Last year still stings a lot,” Jacka, who skippered the 2018 premiership team, said. “I’m pretty close with Jahd… that situation.
“But, we never really got our heads in the game, and unfortunately, (we were) probably overawed by the situation.
“So, we probably took a little bit out of that in terms of the physicality that is required to not just win prelims and semis and qualifying finals, but then that next step up for grand finals.
“I think everyone’s had their taste of it last year, and they’re ready to go this year.”
Thomson is just the fourth team since the return to a single-division structure in 1996 to reach the decider from an elimination final.
Bannockburn (1999), Bell Post Hill (2008) and East Geelong (2012) all stumbled at the final hurdle.
However, winning premiership from an elimination final isn’t foreign to coach Paul Lynch, who was in charge when Colac was the first GFNL club to achieve the feat in 2014.
Jacka says Lynch produced the ideal moment to raise his role in local football folklore.
“When we got a bit of touch-up in the last round of the year against Werribee… he said, ‘I’m not really worried about this. I’ve been there before. We’ve come from fifth at Colac, and we got belted by 12 or 13 goals in that last game of the year and came out and won it’,” Jacka revealed.
“It was a bit of a springboard for us.
“We knew it was an opportunity, and there was a chance it could come through.
“You back Lynchy with anything he says.”
Thomson has won three knockout finals to get to the grand final, but Jacka says it feels like the Tigers have been playing elimination matches for a lot longer.
That allowed Thomson to focus on the match before them and not worry about the “what ifs?” that comes with the double chance.
“The last three or four weeks of the home-and-away season, we were still fighting for finals,” he said.
“We were only a goal or two up against Corio in that second-last round, and it wasn’t a guarantee that we were going to run over the top of them.
“And, if we had of lost that game, there was a chance we missed out on the final five.
“It has helped. It’s pretty easy to focus on what’s ahead and that “one week at a time” motto.”
X: @krockfootball
