Werribee Centrals coach Rhyce Prismall is confident his team is peaking at the right time as it prepares for its first final in five years against the Belmont Lions.
The Centurions 14-4 win-loss record is their best return since 2011.
Despite two of those losses coming in the season’s final month, Prismall’s men were in the box seat for a top-three finish after a six-game winning streak to round out the first half of the season.
“I really feel like we’re on the up at the right time, (and) we’ve hit momentum at the right time,” he said.
“We’re starting to get almost a full list back together.
“We’ll continue to learn; every week, we’re learning. We’re trying to get better whether we win, lose or draw.
“This is just another stepping stone to where we want to get to.”
When the two teams met in their lone meeting for the home-and-away season in Round 9, Werribee Centrals ended the Lions’ unbeaten start to the season with a 12-point win at Galvin Park.
However, Prismall isn’t reading too much into that result.
“They started really, really well; I think we might have 24 or 25 points down in the first quarter,” he recalled.
“We grinded away and got the margin back, and the rain hit. It was a slippery game for half an hour.
“It was probably one of those games that had a few momentum swings.
“You can’t look at it too much because it was so long ago.
“It’s more so matchups. They’ve had a lot of new players come in this year, so we got to see a bit of them.”
Prismall (knee) and Michael Culliver (hamstring) will miss the first finals meeting between Werribee Centrals and Belmont Lions.
However, the Centurions will welcome Josh MacDonald, Paddy Daley, and Bryce Linehan-Cunningham back.
They replace Joel Croswell, Tyla Hanscomb, and Damian Williams.
The Lions have been boosted by the inclusion of Ben Evans, Noah Houtsma, Matthew Ludbrook, and Jakob Steel at the expense of Jesse Stapleton, Stephen Phillips, Shaun Jubber, and Bailey Trevorrow.
That quartet will push their case for a recall in the Lions reserve-grade qualifying final against East Geelong.
GDFNL: AT SELECTION – FINALS WEEK ONE
Former Richmond and Fremantle player Reece Conca is a welcome addition to the Bannockburn team for Sunday’s elimination final against Thomson.
Leopold premiership player Rob Maibaum, the experienced Luke Bowdern, and young midfielder Bailey Alford are also back for the Country Tigers.
Among six changes, Thomson has included experienced defender Steve Salajan and key forwards Jacob Knight and Dan Freeman.
However, midfielder Logan Mitchell (syndesmosis) will be missing.
“He’s been on crutches the last two weeks trying to protect it as much as he can,” coach Paul Lynch.
“Syndesmosis can be three weeks or eight weeks, so it’ll just be a week-by-week process for Logan.
“Hopefully, he can get up for that second final if we win.”
Lynch is expecting an evenly-matched contest despite winning both meetings with Bannockburn during the year.
“I think our deficiencies are similar to their deficiencies, and our strengths are very similar to their strengths,” he said.
“We match up very well against them no matter the players we put out there.
“Both games were pretty close. The first one we won by four points, and the second one we kicked away late in the game.”
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