Jim Grills confident Albury will bounce back strongly after straight-sets finals exit

The Tigers crashed out in straight sets and were relegated to spectators as Wangaratta and Yarrawonga went hammer and tongs in a pulsating grand final.

"It's always tough when you get knocked out earlier than you'd hoped for," Grills said.

"But talking to a lot of the boys, it could have been the best thing for us because everyone's really locked in and had a big pre-season.

"I couldn't name one bloke that hasn't come back with a big fire in their belly for this year.

"We've left last season where it was and we start this year new.

"It's a new year and we're a different side but definitely, deep down, there's a burning desire to go a lot further than we did last year."

Grills spoke candidly about his own form in a season interrupted by injury and coronavirus.

"I got behind the eight ball with having surgery in February," he recalled.

"I had a meniscus repair in 2021 and it was going well until about the second week back after Christmas and it blew out then, so I had to go in and get it cleaned out and get 40 percent of that meniscus removed.

"I got back to play round two but then COVID and hamstrings... so really last year I came up short, like we did as a unit."

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Ex-Holbrook man Grills is on course to play his 100^th senior game for Albury this year and can't speak highly enough of the club where he's spent the best part of a decade.

"I came here in 2014 and the club was unreal," he said.

"I did my ACL that first year and they've looked after me from day one.

"They've been very supportive of my outside commitments with polocrosse so the club means the world to me.

"They look after me a lot and I'll try to return the favour by playing some good footy this year.

"When I first arrived, it was a very set, older group that had been very successful.

"They'd had their three-peat and they were on their fourth when I did my knee so it was really good to come into that group and learn off those sort of boys for everyday life.

"To see all these young boys coming in now, you start to get an understanding of how much work goes into being a very successful team and I can't wait to get back there.

"What I really value, as much as being a leader myself, is seeing everyone else succeed in what we want to do as a group."

Albury's season starts away to Yarrawonga on Easter Sunday, April 9, before Myrtleford's visit to the Sportsground in round two.

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