Like the rest of the local football world, Anakie co-captain Mason Rhodes thought the Roos had blown a golden chance to snap a 27-year finals drought.
Consecutive losses in rounds 12 and 13 to the teams that would ultimately occupy the bottom two spots on the ladder, Corio and Geelong West, had Anakie sitting outside the top five.
Rhodes says it was at that time the Roos asked themselves a simple question: “What do we want to get out of the remainder of the year?”.
“Looking at the remaining five games, there was no easy game in the lot,” Rhodes told K rock Football’s Beyond the Boundary podcast.
“We went into (the) Thomson (game), (and) we knew the weather was, you know, it was going to be a scrappy game.
“And we just thought, ‘Well, we’ve got nothing to lose here. We’re going to be the underdogs going into, most likely, the five remaining games’.
“(We) just kept on taking it a week at a time. And obviously, things fell our way.”
It’s a momentum Rhodes is confident can carry Anakie beyond Sunday’s elimination final meeting with Bell Post Hill at St Albans Reserve.
“The last five weeks have really instilled enough that we do have what it takes, and we’ve got the belief there, and everyone’s just up and about.
“The club’s in a great spot, and it doesn’t matter if we’re up or we’re down, I think the last five weeks have shown that we can really turn it around on any stage of the game and get through to the end.
“It’s exciting.”
Anakie will go into the clash without experienced big man Jay Lever (quad) and Matt Dettman (hamstring).
There is also a question mark over star midfielder Brad Gerrard, with the Roos to give him until Sunday to prove his fitness.
After managing several players last week, Bell Post Hill has made nine changes.
Premiership heroes Beau McNamara, Tim Barton, Dylan Witney, Caleb Bacely, and Nick Costello are among the inclusions.
AT SELECTION – FINALS WEEK ONE
Belmont Lions and North Geelong will take relatively settled line-ups into tomorrow’s qualifying final at St Albans Reserve.
The Lions have recalled Jake Steel, with Shaun McNamara making way.
North will be boosted by the inclusion of Paddy Cleary and Noah Bily, who replace Jordy Purcell and Noah Penny.
X: @krockfootball
