Tooradin’s team spirit has been the building block of its rise up the Casey Cardinia league ladder in 2012. The Seagulls enjoyed their win against Berwick on Saturday and will be hoping for similar scenes when they take on Cranbourne in Sunday’s preliminary final at Pakenham. 86910 Picture: DONNA OATES
By DAVID NAGEL
TOORADIN will go in with a fresh and so far successful approach when it takes on Cranbourne in the Casey Cardinia preliminary final at Pakenham on Sunday.
The Seagulls need a massive turn around to advance, after being demolished by the Eagles by 91 points in the qualifying final, but coach Tom Hallinan knows his team will be much better prepared this time around.
The Casey Cardinia Coach of the Year concedes he could have prepared his team in much better fashion when the two sides last met.
“With a leadership role comes huge responsibility,” Hallinan said after the Seagulls had progressed with a 43-point win over Berwick last week.
“The intensity, or lack of intensity that a leader shows, can quickly rub off on a group. All the video analysis and other things we did prior to that game was quite overwhelming for our players, and I take full responsibility for that.”
Hallinan stripped the Seagulls preparation right back for the Berwick clash and the results were immediate. His team was sent out to enjoy the occasion and played with freedom and flair with uncluttered minds.
They’ll need to reproduce that brand of footy if they’re to cause a massive upset and move through to the grandest final of all.
Cranbourne was superb under duress last week, fighting like a caged lion despite injuries to key players in its one-point loss to Narre Warren. Its backline of Nick Barker, Matt Thompson, Stuart Morrish, Brandon and Glenn Osborne and Gavin Kerr was impenetrable. How the Seagulls deliver the ball to Julian Suarez, Aaron Hyde and co, will be the key to kicking a winning score.
The midfield battle is intriguing and how the Eagles butter up, after a gut busting effort against the Magpies, will dictate the run of play. Ryan Davey and Matt Rus were in season best form last week while Leigh Holt, Justin Berry and Curtis Barker won around the stoppages.
Tooradin’s midfield lacks nothing in comparison, and its big four of Michael Hobbs, Beau Miller, Matt Wade and Ryan White played their best game, as a unit, all year last week. White and Wade were explosive while Hobbs and Miller did the dirty work, a perfect combination that will be hard to stop if it fires again.
The Seagulls biggest test will be stopping the array of options that the Eagles have going forward. Sam Watson kept Marc Holt to four goals in the qualifying final, but then Michael Theodoridis appeared with a bag of five. Throw Andrew White and the returning Matt Davey into the mix and the Seagulls defenders will need to be on their toes.
After putting in a tremendous effort and coming away empty handed last week, Cranbourne coach Doug Koop knows there’s only one way to get back on the winners list.
“We need to go right back to square one,” Koop said.
“We need to do what we do best and that is be super competitive around the ground and win the contested ball. From there, we need to improve our delivery to our forwards and give them a chance to catch the footy.” Sounds pretty simple.
TIP
Tooradin’s two-week foray into finals footy is living proof that you can’t beat experience. The Seagulls transformed from startled gazelles in week one to cool and calculated executioners in week two, and will continue to benefit from the experience. Whether the brute force they exerted on the Wickers will have any impact on the Eagles is doubtful. Cranbourne is the better side and has the game in its own hands; play like last week and it wins, but a slight drop off and this one could get interesting.
It’s the Eagles through to the big one.
