Winchelsea coach Ben Moloney says his team has got to “defend the ground better” if it’s to avoid a straight-sets exit from the GDFNL finals.
The Blues, who claimed the minor premiership for the first time since joining the competition in 2002, started well in last week’s second semi-final against East Geelong.
However, after leading by 28 points at halftime, they were swamped in the second half by the Eagles, who kicked nine goals to two to claim the first grand final berth.
Winchelsea, which hasn’t won a final since its last appearance at St Albans Reserve in 2014, now faces Werribee Centrals in the preliminary final.
“My big thing in finals is it’s a midfielder’s game,” Moloney said. “If you get beaten inside, then you can get exposed outside, too.
“They’ve got some weapons on-ball, and in their rucks, and in their wingers as well. They cover a lot of ground, but they’ve obviously got talent at both ends.
“For us, we’ve just got to defend the ground better than what we did on the weekend.
“I think with the wind, it could be played one side of the ground most of the day. We’ve just got to be able to generate more and not play predictable footy.”
With veteran midfielder Ryan Williams overseas, all eyes will be on whether Team of the Year member Fin Parish returns.
He missed last week’s loss to East after injuring his thumb at work on the Wednesday before the match.
“We think Fin will be right to go,” Moloney said on Friday morning.
“Last week was a bit touch and go, and we just thought with the opportunity we had that we were able to give him another week.
“Unfortunately, we probably didn’t play a full four quarters. He definitely would have been handy to have.
“But we’re expecting him to be raring to go come two o’clock tomorrow.”
If Parish doesn’t play, Jackson Smith, who won his second Ivan Tansing Medal as GDFNL reserves best-and-fairest last week, is in line to make his first senior appearance since 2022.
“He’s on an extended bench, but it’s definitely still an option at the moment around team balance,” Moloney said
“If Fin gets up, it could still be an option in terms of the bigger ground and flexibility with him.”
The two clubs split their meetings during the home-and-away season, with Winchelsea posting a rare win at Galvin Park in Round 12, sneaking home by two points.
“We defended the ground a lot better there, and we moved the ball really well,” Moloney said,
“They’ve got a couple of different players in, and they’ve sort of flipped some key positions from forward to back.
“We definitely take a lot from that game.
“But the learnings of the ground that we’re playing on and how to play it a bit better is something that we’ll try and take into this week.
The Centurions, who won their Round 1 meeting by 19 points at Eastern Reserve, will go into the clash unchanged, giving Kai Gomes Pattiyage another week to recover from a collision in the qualifying final.
AT SELECTION – PRELIMINARY FINAL
Meanwhile, Bell Post Hill and East Geelong will do battle in the reserves preliminary final.
The winner will face minor premier Belmont Lions in the grand final.
The Panthers defeated the Eagles by 16 points in a low-scoring qualifying final.
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