The second week of the BFNL finals is shaping up to provide some cracking contests at Portarlington Reserve.
Barwon Heads takes on Torquay in the second Qualifying Final on Saturday, a rematch of last year’s reverse fixture where despite eventually winning the flag, the Seagulls lost to the Tigers by a whopping 75 points.
Barwon Heads Coach Mitch Herbison is hopeful his side won’t have to do it the hard way again.
“Both times Torquay got the better of us earlier in the year and they’ve shown over the course of the season they’re clearly the team to beat, and they finished on top,” Herbison said.
“So it’s going to be a tough challenge, but hopefully we’re peaking at the right time and playing our best footy at this time of the year, and we’re looking forward to the challenge,” he said.
Last week saw the Seagulls take a two-point win over Drysdale in the first Qualifying Final.
“It was a really tough contest against Drysdale and one that potentially could have gone either way, so to come out narrow winners was great for us and the way that the 22 that were out there played it was pretty pleasing for the coaching group,” Herbison said.
He said there will be some tough choices to make at selection, with a healthy list to choose from for Saturday’s clash against the Tigers.
“We should get Charlie Perks back into the team.
“He had a little niggle in his knee last week, so we’re looking at getting him back into the mix, but we’ve got a few tough decisions to make.”
Drysdale takes on Anglesea on Sunday, with the Kangaroos coming off a 28-point win over Modewarre last weekend.
Drysdale coach Ben Carmichel is expecting a close game, with the two sides playing out a draw in Round 2 before the Hawks got the better of the Roos by 17-points in Round 15.
“In previous contests against Anglesea they’ve been tight contests, with moments in games where one side had the momentum then the other side’s grabbed it,” Carmichael said.
“So we’re expecting a close hard game, going off the last couple of times we played them and even last year we’ve had some good contests against them,” he said.
“We didn’t get the win last week (against Barwon Heads) but we certainly thought we played very well, but just couldn’t finish the game off.”
