MOUNT Burr has just played in the best contest seen in the Mid South East Football League in 2018 and fell agonisingly short of taking the direct route to the grand final at Glencoe on September 15.
If the after-the-siren kick by Robe defender Tom Rechner had travelled only 38m rather than 40m, the second semi-final between the Roosters and the Mozzies would have entered extra time.
Nonetheless, Rechner lived up to the maxim “cometh the hour, cometh the man” and the Roosters qualified first for the “big dance”.
Although the reigning and minor premiers came off second best in this contest, they were not disgraced.
There were some downsides as the forwards managed only 3.5 in almost a half of football while the defence uncharacteristically conceded almost 100 points.
No Rooster was allowed to score more than two goals but the seasiders had Rechner and nine other contributors to boot a winning score.
Let us not forget that Mount Burr skipper Brodie Hennink had no luck when he tossed the coin with former team mate Jon Agnew.
It fell in Agnew’s favour and so Robe had the advantage of the breeze when it was at its strongest in the opening term.
The Burr Boys will be stronger this week as Jake Dowdy will have that match fitness which he lacked on Saturday.
Dowdy has been restricted to only four matches in 2018 on account of his travels.
He was prominent in the first half but less so in the second.
There is also a chance that young speedster Ethan Glass-Reilly may be back in the Mount Burr team this week.
Mount Burr had a less-than-ideal pre-finals preparation.
It lost at Hatherleigh in Round 16 and this was followed by a bye, an “easy” home ground match against Tantanoola and then another break for the first semi-final weekend.
The Nangwarry venue will assist the Mozzies in the preliminary final as it has one of the best wet weather surfaces in the MSEFL.
Its sandy base means it can cope well with the heavy downpours of this winter and more showers are forecast this week before the opening bounce at 2.15pm today.
Overall, Kalangadoo are an older, stronger and slower team and they would have preferred to have played on a ground which was sodden and muddy.
This is the fifth consecutive major round campaign for the Magpies but their opponents are true September specialists.
They have the major motivation of claiming a record fourth consecutive flag.
This has been achieved by teams in the younger and neighbouring leagues of the Kowree Naracoorte Tatiara and the Western Border.
Over in the Kalangadoo camp, members can approach this match with a measure of confidence.
The Magpies and the Mozzies have one win apiece in their head-to-head contests in 2018 and were highly impressive in defeating Hatherleigh by 102 points in the first semi-final at Port MacDonnell.
The black-and-whites have also had the advantage of playing or training at this venue on three occasions in 2018.
Their scheduled match was on May 26 and then they have since had two training runs there courtesy of the Saints in the past month.
Relations between the two neighbours cooled a few seasons ago when Kalangadoo was joined by three Nangwarry players, but all is well now.
Kalangadoo coach and club vice-president Chris Mules has expressed his side’s gratitude for allowing these sessions to go ahead.
Mules is in his second stint as coach of the Magpies but is unsure what 2019 will bring.
“I will definitely be playing at Kalangadoo,” Mules said.
Since the first semi-final victory, Mules said his side had maintained its regular training regime with one exception when they had a light run and he delivered a talk.
His coaching predecessor and elder Ben Mules was an early exit from the first semi and finished the game on the sidelines with his leg encased in an ice pack.
“Ben is all good and we will take much the same team to Nangwarry.”
A year ago, Mount Burr coach Tom Renzi was delivered an extra motivational ploy when the MSEFL team-of-the-year bizarrely only had one Mozzie player.
That has been corrected in the 2018 team-of-the-year with the green-and-golds having six inclusions and far more than any other club.
They are Renzi along with Henry Crauford, Dylan Ridley, Sam Wallis, Chris Puiatti and Cory Gamble.
These Mount Burr footballers will lead from the front today.
