By Holly Slattery
Finals credentials will be put to the test at The Canal on Saturday with all four Bull Sharks teams to face genuine premiership rivals.
It is the last time all the Bull Sharks sides will play at home together in the home and away season offering fans the chance to check the club’s premiership credentials against top four ranked opponents.
The matches will carry extra gravitas with players to don the Indigenous guernseys they were denied the chance to wear when the Sir Doug Nicholls Round matches were abandoned due to the water-logged field.
The day will be headlined by a top of the table men’s QFA Division 2 clash where the Bull Sharks will be desperate to keep intact an unblemished season. But players will be tested by their round 12 foes with Carrara siting second on the ladder, prevailing in all but one game.
“I definitely think it will be our hardest challenge of the season yet,” Bond forward Will Cooper said.
“Not having faced them and being first and second on the ladder, it’s always going to be a tough battle.’’
Persistence and unity in the face of hardship is what Cooper thinks will continue to drive the Bull Sharks’ success as they near the end of the season.
“I just think we’ve all really bought in together this year and we’ve worked really hard,” he said.
“We’ve had a couple of setbacks, but we’ve stuck together and I think that’s really helped us to get to the position we’re at now.
“We’re taking it one game at a time but we’re definitely eyeing off that final series.
“We’re trying to get a few more wins on the board so we put ourselves in a good position to hopefully go one more step this year.”
The match gets underway at 2pm.
Fresh from their 113-point thumping over Coomera, the Bull Sharks’ reserves side will wrap up the action-packed afternoon against third placed Carrara at 4:30pm.
In the QAFLW competition, the third placed Bull Sharks are hoping to replace Southport in second spot on the ladder.
The team will be relying on Courtney Sexton to replicate the intense forward pressure she showed in the 20-point win against Yeronga last weekend.
The action starts at 10.15am with the women’s reserves where the Bull Sharks can claim top spot on the ladder with victory over Southport. The Sharks currently sit on top with a two-point buffer over Bond.
For all the team lists, head to the Bond University Sport website tomorrow.