LAVINGTON coach James Saker says the Panthers are better prepared for a grand final assault than this time last year and has challenged the club’s leaders to “step up” against Albury.
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The Panthers held off a fast finishing Yarrawonga in the preliminary final to book their place in the decider and set up a rematch against the Tigers.
Saker said the pain of last year’s grand final defeat to the Tigers was fresh in their memory and was confident they could inflict the league heavyweight with their first defeat of the season on the biggest stage of all.
“It’s been a long 12 months but we’ve had a genuine plan and philosophy that we’re going to peak at the right time of year,” he said.
“I’ve been here five years and when I started, a lot of that core group was 18, 19 and now they’re 22, 23, they’ve been there before and know what it takes.
“They’re prepared to do what it takes a bit more than in the past, experience is a great teacher.
“We’ve experienced this week before, the day, we’re not going to be overawed.
“We’re really proud of our club to front up again.
“Everyone did their job today and that’s how we operate but to win it we are probably going to have to have a few of our better boys step up off the back of the team defence.”
The Panthers’ defence was superb on Sunday with Brant Dickson and Jono Spina underlining their value to the team by restricting Yarrawonga to six goals for the first three-and-a-half quarters.
At the other end, Adam Prior (four), Jack Nunn (three) and Justin Koschitzke (three) combined for 10 goals in a sure sign the Panthers’ attack is functioning smoothly.
A week after having the better of Albury star Joel Mackie in the second semi-final, Panther tagger Jake Way claimed another scalp in Pigeon ace Tyler Bonat.
“Yarrawonga is an experienced team, they did everything they could to get over the line today but we stuck fat and now we get to try and execute on the final day of this 12-month plan,” Saker said.
“It was a great hit-out last week (against Albury in the second semi-final) and there are certain elements of that game that were better than today, we were just able to hit the scoreboard a bit better today.
“Our last month has been our best month, today wasn’t our best day but we got it done and there’s confidence for next week.”
Saker said Tom Hargreave would “do everything he can to get up” for the grand final after sitting out the last quarter-and-a-half of Sunday’s game against the Pigeons with an ankle injury.
Xavier Mardling
Xavier started at The Border Mail in Albury-Wodonga in 2001, covering sport and general news before moving to the subs' desk. He was editor of his hometown masthead from 2016 to 2020 before swapping the Murray for Merewether. He returned to The Border Mail as editor in 2023.
Xavier started at The Border Mail in Albury-Wodonga in 2001, covering sport and general news before moving to the subs' desk. He was editor of his hometown masthead from 2016 to 2020 before swapping the Murray for Merewether. He returned to The Border Mail as editor in 2023.
