James Murphy
THEY may have finished the minor rounds in fourth, but the Roos enter Saturday’s Limestone Coast football A Grade grand final in red-hot form.
West Gambier appears to have timed its peak perfectly and has now claimed two big scalps on its way to the decider.
The first came in the elimination final where a consistent four-quarter performance knocked out an in-form North Gambier, then last week it was South Gambier who succumbed to the Roos in a windy match at McLaughlin Park.
Now only one game stands in the way of premiership glory, but it will be the toughest yet.
Unlike its fellow finals contenders, West did not record a win over Millicent in the home-and-away season.
They met three times, with the latest a disappointing 53-point loss in Round 12.
However, the Roos were understaffed for that clash and have since welcomed back some key personnel.
They have continued to bring in players from injury throughout finals, with the latest inclusion star defender Lewis Lean who featured in Saturday’s preliminary final after not taking to the field since Round 6.
An up-and-down season seemed to come all together in the final minor rounds and McElroy is pleased with where his team sits heading into the weekend.
“We have been pretty hampered with injuries all year,”
“It might have been the Millicent game where they really got the better of us, we sat down after that and said ‘what do we actually want to achieve here’.
“Probably since then we have started to gel heaps better as a group and it has definitely had a different feel about it.”
McElroy said he had personally learnt a lot since last season, where the Roos came out of the gates hot and burnt out by the pointy end of the season.
“You look at North each year and they just time their runs right, that is what I am trying to do this year and it is just working out for us,” he said.
“Getting to the big one is an achievement in its own.
“Hopefully we can dig in on the weekend and anything could happen.”
West will enter Saturday as the underdog, but that is how McElroy prefers it.
“I actually like being in the position we are in,” he said.
“We haven’t beaten them all year but on the same token we haven’t had a full team against them all year.
“I think my boys being the underdogs, we have nothing to lose.
“We are hunting them and it is their game to lose.
“They have been sitting up there doing it well for a long time and credit to them, they are a very well driven and classy team.”
The Roos have talent in spades and the likes of on-baller Lawry Bradley-Brown, ruckman Braiden Ousey, plus Andrew Stone and Brandon Newton up forward are a few of many in-form stars.
The move to shift Newton up forward has proven fruitful and he will be a major threat in front of goals.
He finished the minor rounds with 21 goals from three games and has the whole package – strong hands, quick feet and silky skills, along with an accurate shot on goal from any angle.
The list of talent could go on, but McElroy said Saturday’s outcome could come down to the lesser-known faces.
“I have actually been pretty impressed with how some of my kids have been playing lately,” he said.
“They are not big namers or anything like that, but on the weekend they just stepped up to another level.
“You obviously have your Lozz’s (Bradley-Brown), your midfield brigade with (Mitch) Larsson and Tom Holmes and all of these guys who have played a lot of footy and are successful, smart footballers, but I think it is my bottom five or six who I really rely on.
“Some of them on the weekend showed some really good football and if they can do that one more time I am pretty confident to be honest.”
