An impressive five Bull Sharks teams will play finals this weekend at GPS Rugby Club.
On the women's side, Bond's defending Founders Cup premiers take on this year's minor premiers - Sunnybank - for a direct route through to the grand final
Colts 1, Colts 2 and 3rd Grade go head-to-head with Brothers on Saturday while our 2nd Grade men take on UQ on Sunday.
Premier Women
The Opposition
Sunnybank are the benchmark of the competition being the minor premiers. We need to try to rise to their level and compete with them.
The Challenge
Most coaches would prefer to have a week off to freshen up and that’s what we’ll be trying to do. A week off would be an opportunity to deal with niggles, refresh, reset and have that extra time to review and have a look at potential opponents.
Shuffling the magnets
It’s just been confirmed that Eva Karpani and Jemma Bemrose have been selected in the Wallaroos, Eva with another campaign and Jemma with a potential debut in the green and gold. For a young girl out of the Elanora/Palm Beach area playing for the Alleygators to come through the Gold Coast pathway, play the Reds and now the Wallaroos, it’s a wonderful story. They fly out tomorrow to prepare for a test match in New Zealand next weekend, so they won’t be available.
The focus
We have a mantra, “filling the gaps and staying liquid.” It comes from a show about a SWAT team. In that line of police work, it’s life or death and even though sport isn’t necessarily life or death, the season hangs on a thread this time of year. Like in a SWAT team, it’s about how well the team works together – you need people watching your side, your front, your back. If a SWAT team isn’t all in sync and all on the same page, the risk is life and death. For us, it’s getting knocked out of the competition. We 100% aim to not only fill the gaps and cover each other’s backs but also remain adaptable and that’s the bit about staying liquid – we want to remain adaptable and ready to embrace and challenge anything that comes our way.
Final word
The finals are the pinnacle, it’s what you prepare all season for and work towards. There are other things that come with it – you want to develop people, bring people along on the journey and help them become better footy players and people in the process, but the whole team has the same goal – to make all of the hours, days and weeks of sacrifice worth it and pay off in the end.
-With Setu Naseri, Premier Women Head Coach
Colts 1
The Opposition
Brothers are the benchmark of the competition across the board in all grades. Their success is a habit, and they’re so used to being in finals and winning premierships - it’s no surprise we’re playing them this time of year. They led the competition until the last round, which is a testament to how good a side they are.
The Challenge
Our biggest challenge is sticking by our policy of wanting to be better every week. We never spoke about the minor premiership or celebrating it, we just focused on what we can win or what we can set up. It’s all about every week, just want to be better. It’s the same this week – it’s higher stakes against a quality opposition and we’ll go about it in the same way.
Shuffling the magnets
While it’s a negative not to have first grade playing and it would have been great to be part of history with every team in finals, we get Karius Booth and Kenny Harris back into the side this week. Their transition back into the team will be a positive one and won’t disrupt the team. Kenny's been at training the last six weeks and Karius has been getting around our team before he plays first grade on Saturdays. It's not an individual first mentality, it’s a team first mentality, and I've been really impressed with the maturity they've shown in that regard.
The Focus
We’ll see it as a positive, whether we get the week off or not. Of course, there’s so much you can tick off if you get the week off in terms of managing bumps and bruises and injury management on a whole. But for now, our total focus is Saturday. From there, we’ll put together a plan depending on the result.
Final word
They are a special group of young men - not just on the field, but off the field, in terms of their leadership, maturity, and ability to be part of a team and understanding what it takes to be a successful team. Their on-field performance is a reflection of that. The Bond rugby experience is nothing but a positive one and the whole club play a very open, exciting game of rugby. It will be an incredible day of footy.
-With Adam Fahey, Colts 1 Head Coach