Holbrook's Luke Gestier to miss preliminary final to attend sister's wedding

With his sister planning her wedding day for Saturday, September 16, Gestier just had to wait and see what would happen.

As fate would have it, the Brookers will meet RWW-Giants in the preliminary final after losing to league heavyweight Osborne last weekend in the second semi-final.

The Brookers' most potent attacking weapon will now miss the cut-throat final to attend his sister's wedding on the family farm near Wagga with more than 140 guests attending.

Gestier said it was an easy decision for him when it came to choosing between family and football.

"In footy terms I'm gutted but when you put it into perspective there were no ifs, buts or maybes really to be honest," Gestier said.

"It's my sister's wedding and I wouldn't miss it.

"It could have been worse, if it was the same date as last year it would have clashed with the grand final.

"We still have to make the grand final obviously.

"Don't get me wrong, I still love playing footy and would love to be out there playing with the boys but obviously family comes first.

"Like a lot of families, we are a big family that is really close and the wedding is a huge occasion for us as a family.

"Hopefully the boys can get the job done on the weekend and we can play off in another grand final next weekend."

Gestier revealed premiership coach Matt Sharp fully understands his decision.

"I let Sharpie know at the start of pre-season that there was going to be a potential clash during the finals," he said.

"He was fine even though we realised it was going to be preliminary final weekend.

"Sharpie has been spot on with the playing group since taking on the coaching job and there is no issue there at all."

In a perfect world, the Brookers could have won last weekend against Osborne and taken the direct route into the grand final.

But the reigning premier conceded the first seven goals of the match as the ruthless Tigers blew the Brookers away by 60-points to confirm their raging flag favourite status.

"Take nothing away from Osborne but we walk away knowing that performance was well below our best," Gestier said.

"They put us on the back foot early but we will be right, that's the bonus of finishing top-two, you get that second chance during finals.

"Osborne were slick early but as the game wore on I thought we matched it with them for the most part after that.

"Whether you call it junk time or not, they kicked away again late in the final term.

"We can bounce back.

"We were in this exact same position last year but proved in the grand final that we were the better side."

Adding further intrigue to the preliminary final clash against the Giants, the Brookers have already declared they will not only be missing Gestier.

Midfielder Josh Jones has been ruled out as well with work commitments.

Defenders Michael Oates (hamstring) and Hamish Mackinlay (foot) are also expected to miss again after not playing in the second semi-final last weekend.

The Giants caused a boilover against the Brookers in their only clash so far this season when they won by 16-points in round nine.

The merged identity will be missing Brayden Lieschke who suffered a broken collarbone against Brock-Burrum last weekend in the first semi-final.

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