North Geelong coach Peter Riccardi says last weekend’s final-round demolition of Winchelsea has restored confidence ahead of the club’s first finals appearance in seven years.
The Magpies, who had been battling patchy form leading into finals, belted the Blues by 149 points, something Riccardi admitted even surprised him.
“I was a bit nervous going into it because we’d been very inconsistent the last few weeks, and we really needed a good showing just to get some confidence back,” Riccardi said.
“To the boys’ credit, everything we planned for, everything we did, and a few positional moves as well, they all took it on board.
“The result was beyond my expectations.”
North Geelong now faces reigning grand finalist Belmont Lions in Saturday’s qualifying final at St Albans Reserve.
The Lions claimed a 13-point victory when the two sides met on the smaller confines of Winter Reserve in Round 11, but Riccardi believes his group has developed since then.
“We’ll take a bit away from that game,” he said. “But we’ve also spoken about taking our chances when we get them.
“Up until last week, we’d been a very inaccurate side. In big games, if you kick like that, there is no tomorrow.
“Last weekend was different – we kicked 27.14. Osca (Riccardi) and Johnny Fazio had been our biggest culprits in front of goal, but Osca kicked 6.1 and Johnny kicked five straight.”
Riccardi, who guided Bannockburn to premierships either side of the Covid-impacted years, stressed the need for his young group to understand the intensity that comes with finals football.
“We spoke about that straight after the game,” he said. “It goes up another level in finals, and we’ll be touching on that again tonight.
“We’ve got some experienced blokes, but not many with finals-type experience.
“We’ll be making sure the boys understand that.”
On the selection front, Riccardi expects Noah Bily and Paddy Cleary to return.
However, Rory Desnoy remains sidelined with a shoulder injury and is unlikely to feature again this year unless the Magpies make the grand final.
“Unfortunately, there are going to be some stiff blokes who probably don’t deserve to be dropped, but that’s footy,” Riccardi said of selection.
Having taken North Geelong into finals ahead of schedule, Riccardi said the club’s rise is a credit to the commitment of his young group.
“When I took on the role and recruited, I thought it might take three or four years to get back to this stage,” he said.
“It’s come quicker than I expected, so I’m super excited – not for myself, but for the group.
“They’ve been working since October. They don’t have to show up, but they do, because all they want to do is learn and get better.
“That’s why we’re here.”
Riccardi believes the Magpies’ best football is good enough to match anyone — the challenge is to maintain that level consistently.
“Yes, absolutely, we want to win it,” he said. “Our best is good enough.
“Now it’s about whether we can produce that in finals.”
X: @krockfootball
