GUN forward Aaron Purcell fired Jerilderie straight into the North-West grand final with an 11-goal haul on Saturday.
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After going goal for goal during much of their semi final, Jerilderie ran over Strathmerton to win by 22 points.
“We’ve got a few older guys so it’s good we get the week off,” coach Josh Bode said.
Having last week off worked in Jerilderie’s favour.
Trailing at half-time by a goal, the Demons were able to run the game out harder than the Dogs.
“It was tight all day and we were just a goal up at three quarter-time, but we kicked away with it,” Bode said.
“We set up a few structural things that we wanted to try before the game”.
Purcell was deadly in front of goal, kicking 11.5.
“We were able to get the footy in to Aaron a lot cleaner than last time we played Strathy,” Bode said.
“And when you get good inside 50s with Aaron in there we’re going to be hard to stop.”
Bode said Jerilderie hadn’t had to change its game plan.
“We like to run the footy but we did have a bit of an emphasis on not over-possessing,” he said.
“Strathy get back pretty well and help out in defence, so we had to move the footy quickly.”
Bode said it wasn’t just Purcell’s performance that made the difference, but a full team effort.
Blair Henery and Chris Lockhart did a solid job in Jerilderie’s back half, while Brad Parker battled hard in the ruck.
Josh Evans booted four goals for the Bulldogs, while Brayden Coburn was their best.
Justin Crawford was best on ground as Berrigan eliminated Tocumwal by 14 points in yesterday’s first semi-final at Berrigan.
In the South-East competition, Rennie was sent to sudden death after crashing to Katamatite by 55 points in the qualifying final at Dookie on Saturday.