AND then there were two.
Imperials and Wentworth are this year’s last two SFNL football teams standing and will battle it out this Saturday for the premiership flag.
Both of these teams have been the best sides in the competition all season. Imperials have only dropped one game way back in round 2 against the Roos at Brian Weightman Oval, with only two points separating them.
In round 11 at George Gordon Oval, Imperials had their revenge with a 20-point win.
Some of our league’s biggest stars will be on show this weekend. Jarrod Brander, Andy Wall, Wade Hancock, Nick Jensen and Jack Cottrell have all been in outstanding form for Wentworth, while Imperials will have Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti, Brad Vallance, Brad, Bryce and Colby Hards, Jayden Fox, Ryley Buntain, Aaron Laskey, Matt Mazzini and Ben Galbraith ready to fire.
Arguably the most in-form player in the comp right now is Brander, who has been on absolute fire this finals series with 19 goals in three games.
This season has been a much different looking Wentworth outfit, seemingly a much more balanced team.
While they still have their quick running game from half-back, they have built up their midfield with size and strength and can rotate players through the centre of the ground more than any other.
In attack, last season the Roos had two key forwards jostling for position inside the 50-metre arc in Hancock and Brander. I felt that this combination was nearly too confusing for the players up the ground as both were still playing as the only key forward in the side.
This didn’t allow enough free flow for Wentworth and therefore didn’t get the best out of either player and impacted their game style.
This season, and in particular the second half of the year, it seems as though Brander has stepped up to take the key forward mantle and allowed Hancock to play a role of a secondary option.
And this has been the key to their success. Brander won the Tommy Bland Medal as the league’s leading goalkicker. Hancock actually finished third which is incredible given the soft tissue injuries he’s had to work with all year.
What this switch up has done is allow Hancock to get up the ground, become more dynamic across half-forward and therefore much more dangerous by running back to goal when Wentworth move the ball forward.
Over the past few weeks the issue for each side coming up against Wentworth has been how do they stop Brander, and who do they play on him.
This won’t be as big a problem for Imps, however, as their strength has been their back line, in particular their key defenders.
The green machine are blessed with big-bodied and agile backs, their biggest decision will be simply which one to use on Brander and at which times.
Mazzini, Galbraith, Buntain and Reagan Scott could all be used at times on Brander such is their quality. This allows whoever is not directly opposed to the big Roo to run off their opponent and become incredibly dangerous themselves.
The Wentworth half-forwards will need to be very wary of the two-way run of Imperials and not just expect a defender to follow them around all day.
The exciting part of these two teams matching up against each other is they each have no weaknesses in any position on the ground.
Neither side has one match-up against the other that gives them an obvious advantage, and neither team has just snuck into the grand final, both have absolutely deserved and earned their place.
On Saturday, I will delve a little deeper into the key match-ups and where each team can win or lose the game.
I strongly believe that both sides are so evenly matched and incredibly well structured that the game will come down to the best coaching tactics on the day
