Tallon Smith
Both the Wagga Kangaroos and Gundagai Tigers have declared they will be fit and ready when Scott Muir signals time on at 3pm on Sunday to begin the highly anticipated Group 9 Grand Final in Wagga.
The two clubs have named their teams and will go in near full-strength in their battle for bragging rights and the Great Northern Group 9 Premiership Cup.
Wagga Kangaroos coach Nathan Rose said that preparations are all running to plan ahead of the big game on Sunday, with the Roos to have one final training run on Friday night.
“The preparation has been going well, obviously we had the week off there after winning the major semi, and it’s just come at a nice time to refresh the bodies and to keep preparing well and building into Sunday,” he said.
Gundagai’s victory over Young in the Preliminary Final was built around the strike of their centre combination in Gabriel Gul and James Morgan, with each scoring a double in the 32-20 win at Tumut.
Rose said that while both players are firmly on the Roos’ radar, they are more concerned with their own performance.
“Obviously they’ve got a bit of strike out wide there with Morgo and [Gabriel], but I think first and foremost we need to get ourselves in check and in order,” he said.
“I think if we can do that, a lot of good things can happen off the back of that so that’s what we will be looking to do.”
The other potential key to victory for the Wagga outfit is the performance of halfback James Smart, who finished runner-up in last Wednesday’s Weissel Medal count after a stellar season.
“Smarty brings a heap of experience to our squad, and he’ll be good again this weekend, but in saying that he’s been awesome for the last three years,” Rose said.
“Everyone probably goes ‘it’s a Grand Final, Smarty will play well’, but he’s been consistent for the last three years, so I’m sure that he’s going to be the same again this weekend.”
On the flip side of things the Tigers had to do things the hard way, qualifying via the Preliminary Final after coughing up a 12-0 lead in a 34-16 loss to Kangaroos in the Major Semi Final.
Gundagai coach Aaron Gorrell said that his side learned many key lessons from their previous meeting two weeks ago and will be ready for the challenge on Sunday afternoon.
“I think that 12-0 [start] sort of made us look a bit better than we were,” he said.
“I thought we were very poor still in that period, we just got lucky on two plays and then I think we thought it was all too easy and went away from what we’re good at.
“We’ve just got to concentrate on us, throughout the year I’ve said it most times that we’re our own worst enemy at times and we need to get into it, get into the grind and just be happy to play that long game and not try to play cute.
“When we do that, that’s when we play our best footy.”
The First Grade Grand Final kicks off at 3pm on Sunday.
Grand Final Team Lists
Wagga Kangaroos
- Zeik Foster
- Charlie Barton
- Oliver Hoskin
- Dakota Ruta
- Gus Clark
- Nathan Rose (c)
- James Smart
- Simione Naiduki
- Zachary Graham
- Unaloto Suli
- John Downes
- Shane Hannam
- Hayden Jollife
- Sam Macklan
- Connor McCauley
- Harry Stewart
- James Hay
- Wil Hurst
Coach: Nathan Rose
Gundagai Tigers
- Tyron Gorman
- Meli Drau
- Gabriel Gul
- James Morgan
- Toby Dasey
- Will Herring
- Derek Hay (c)
- Joel Field
- Wilson Hamblin
- Hayden Ashcroft
- Jack Elphick
- Benjy Hannan
- Royce Tout
- Pat Birch
- Tevita Vukicea
- Joseph Tahaafe
- Kyle Ramage
- Tarron Makeham
- Edward Brooke
- Dylan Murdoch
- Mark Elphick
Coach: Aaron Gorrell
