By Nick Creely
With a glint in their eyes for the past 10 months, Keysborough’s players will enter this weekend’s finals series off the culmination of perseverance, talent and a resolve to win at all costs.
The Burras – who became one of the dominant figures in Southern Footy’s Division 2 this season after an underwhelming 2016 – now have the chance to test their mettle in a qualifying final against Caulfield this Saturday at Meade Reserve, Clayton.
Burras coach Matt Ferguson is raring to get into the action and is confident his side can lift in the biggest month of the football calendar.
“It’s been a lot of hard work going back last October to now get to a point where we are ready to compete for a finals series,” he said.
“We’ve probably had quarters – not games – where we’ve been exceptional and put the opposition away – we are playing in patches at the moment and we’re hoping we can put together a more consistent four quarters when finals do come.”
The last time the Burras met the Bears was back in Round 16 when they won away from home by 19 points in harsh conditions – they also won narrowly back in Round 5.
Ferguson said his group had definitely learnt lessons about how the Bears play and hopes his side can replicate their recent successes against them.
“That was a tough day for everyone (the Round 16 win), it was a scrappy and windy day.
“We made some changes during that game – in particular putting Chris Bryan in the ruck, allowing us to get control of the middle – and I think we defended really well against a quality team.
“It’s always a hard and contested game against them (Caulfield) and that’s where it starts and ends in the clearances – whoever does better in the clearances will most likely win the game.
“They’ve got the number one defence in the comp, they defend really well and are well coached but I’d like to think we’re more attacking but we need to counter them – it’ll be interesting.”
The Burras have been blessed to remain relatively injury free and will almost have an entire list to choose from but Ferguson believes finals preparation will focus more on the mental side of the game rather than the physical.
“We’ve had a few blokes have a week off here and there, but nothing major – we’ll pretty much be at full strength going into the first final,” he said.
“You need to prepare the players – particularly the guys that haven’t played finals – and ensure they are fully aware of what to expect and make sure they don’t play the game before they run out there, which is always a danger.
“We’ve got a lot of experience in the club who have won premierships, so we think they’ll help with that.”
