By: Joseph Arthur
It’s clash of the titans in the Division 4 grand final with minor premier East Burwood taking on a red-hot Fairpark outfit.
East Burwood is shooting for its first flag since 2000, while Fairpark is looking to win its first since 1995.
The Rams have been the team to beat all season and are coming in fresh after a week off, however they will be wary of the threat posed by the Lions who knocked them over when the two sides last met in Round 18.
Fairpark comes in after destroying second-placed Coldstream in last week’s preliminary final to the tune of 108 points.
Senior coach Sean Stanton said his team had a perfect day and now need to back it up once more on Sunday.
“We started well, seized the momentum early and things sort of fell our way I felt,” Stanton said.
“We played a really good brand of footy, everyone contributed and by half-time it was going to be tough for Coldstream to make up the deficit.
“It (the 108-point win) was a little unexpected but I was always pretty confident that our best footy could match it with anyone.”
The match-up with East Burwood is one Fairpark will believe it can win after splitting its games with the Rams throughout the year and only losing by two points when defeated in Round 9.
Stanton said the key points for his side will be to share the scoring load among the forwards and keep playing the same brand of footy which has got the Lions to this point.
“We’ve got a lot of faith in the players that play down there (forward),” Stanton said.
“It was a great even spread of goal-kickers (against Coldstream) and we’re going to need that this week if we’re to trouble East Burwood.
“If they produce what they produced on the weekend and if they can maintain it for four quarters we’re going to be around the mark.
“They’re (East Burwood) very even across the ground and it’s going to take our best to beat them but I think our best is capable of beating anyone and we’ve shown that in recent weeks.”
For the Rams, it’s all about coming in focused after the week-off and maintaining the high standard of football which won them the minor premiership.
Senior coach Stuart Wynd said everyone is raring to go and has high expectations for what’s going to be a big day for the club.
“It’s always handy having a week off that’s for sure, we were able to get the players that were a bit sore and maybe weren’t quite right an extra week, so no excuses and everyone’s raring to go,” Wynd said.
The Lions are in terrific form and Wynd said quashing their momentum early in the first term will be key to getting the game on his side’s terms.
“They’re (Fairpark) a very good side…end of the day we beat them by two points the first time round when we had a full side and they beat us by five goals only a couple of weeks ago,” Wynd said.
“I think the start’s crucial, it’s pretty hard playing catch-up footy in finals so we’ll be focusing pretty heavily on the first quarter and first half especially.
“We’re certainly going to have our work cut out for us but we think we’re going to go in with a side that on its day is pretty strong.”
Both sides will come into the game with similar game-plans – to nullify the opposition’s forwards by winning the midfield battle – as both squads have been on fire in-front of goal in recent weeks.
“They’ve (Fairpark) got some dangerous forwards in McKendry and Gough and Mullucks as well, so we’ll have some guys assigned to stop them,” Wynd said.
“The midfield battle’s going to be really important – that’s certainly where the game will be won or lost.”
Stanton shared a similar outlook to his counterpart.
“We need to win the footy and give our forwards more opportunity than what their forwards get,” Stanton said.
“It’ll probably be won and lost around the midfield to be honest.”
LIVE | Listen to a live broadcast of the match on 1377 SEN+ or video stream on EFL.org.au
