NEAFL Eastern Conference finals preview

Sydney Swans v Belconnen Magpies – 12:00pm, Saturday August 31
Blacktown International Sports Park

This week’s first NEAFL finals clash will see either the Sydney Swans reserves or the Belconnen Magpies cement the first spot in the NEAFL Eastern Conference Grand Final on September 15.

Both clubs were in outstanding form this season, and finished in the top two places on the ladder.

The semi final will be played at Blacktown International Sports Park, giving the Swans the home town advantage.

The last time these two clubs played was back in Round 11, where the Swans caught Belconnen on the back foot, defeating the Canberra club by 91 points at the SCG.

However, Belconnen have improved significantly throughout the season, and will be full of confidence after defeating Ainslie in the qualifying final last weekend.

Both clubs have immense respect for one another’s ability, and you can be sure it will be a fierce contest from the outset.

Belconnen captain Lexie Bennett believes that if everyone on the field performs their roles, the Magpies are a good chance of a win

“Their the form team of the competition and we just want to play the best we can and compete against them,” Bennett said

“It’s a team performance and as long as everyone performs their role we’ll always be in a good position to get the win.

“We obviously think we can win the game and we’ll be doing everything we can to do that.”

The Swans will field quite a young team in comparison to the Magpies, and are at risk of losing a chunk of their key players to their injury-hit senior side in the coming weeks.

Swans coach Jared Crouch says there are a handful on players in contention for a senior call up.

“We see the final as an opportunity for our players to play the way we want them to play and to give them every chance of being picked in the senior side for finals … people like Mitch Morton, Tony Armstrong, Harry Cunningham and Brandon Jack.”

However, Crouch still believes his young side have the goods to cement the first Grand Final spot.

“We really respect Belconnen, they’ve clearly been a very strong team this year and the one time we played we were on the SCG so we had the advantage there,” Crouch said

“Other sides know we have restrictions and rely on top-ups so we expect they’ll bring a really physical contest but as long as we play our Swans style and play our best, we’ll be happy.”

Ainslie v UWS GIANTS – 11:45am, Saturday August 31
Ainslie Oval

While the UWS GIANTS entered the NEAFL Eastern finals series in fifth place, they are definitely not playing like a fifth-placed side and are as well-placed as any to give the NEAFL Eastern Conference title a real crack.

These two sides have met just once this season, way back in Round 4 when the GIANTS ran out 141-64 winners at Macpherson Oval.

The GIANTS come into this clash after a 42-point win over Eastlake in last week’s elimination final while the third-placed Ainslie went down to Belconnen by 38 points.

Ainslie coach Chris Rourke said his side will be looking to reverse the finals losses that saw them go out of last year’s finals in straight sets.

“Last week we were beaten by a side that was just more committed than we were, our contested ball wasn’t as good as it should have been,” he said.

“We’ve had a look at the tape at training and identified a few things to improve on, but on the whole we’ve had a good vibe at training, we’re fairly confident that we’ll be able to take it up to the GIANTS.

“We’ll certainly make a few changes to our game, making sure that we have good pressure at the footy is one of the things we need to be doing more of.”

Though the Tri-colour finished just one win off the minor Premiership, Rourke said the side wouldn’t be afraid to change the mix of the team in the quest for the title.

“We’ll certainly be looking at making some changes to the squad,” he said.

“17 year-old Blake Renet is a chance to play his first NEAFL game for the year after being strong across the wing and forward line in the reserves, and Cam Bernasconi has been excellent on half-back in the last fortnight.”

UWS GIANTS coach Brett Hand was pleased with his side’s big win last week but was under no illusions that the GIANTS faced another tough task this weekend.

“We were just pleased with the effort we put in,” Hand said.

“To win our first finals game as a club was a good effort from the boys.

“Ainslie pride themselves on their midfield and their toughness around the ball so it will have a fair bit to do with the contested ball, who is able to win that and use it better going forward.”

With regular reserves player Kristian Jaksch making his senior debut last weekend and James Stewart set to play his first game this weekend, the GIANTS will be without some of their usual faces.

But it won’t trouble the team, according to Hand.

“Tom Downie in the ruck has been fantastic all year, we’re hoping for him to get his first hands on it along with our midfield, led by (Anthony) Miles and (Sam) Schulz, they’ve been really solid for the whole year when they’ve been playing,” he said.

“And our backline provides us with a lot of drive so Sam Darley and Matthew Buntine and the like have been fantastic down back so we look forward to those guys getting the ball in their hands.”

With the GIANTS playing in the NEAFL finals for the first time, Hand said playing finals footy was a great learning experience for the club.

“I think these finals help us learn a culture of winning tough games and finals and as far as the club is concerned, that‘s what we’re hoping for over the next three to four years in the AFL,” he said.

“To get a grounding for that in the NEAFL competition for these 18 and 19-year-old boys will certainly hold them in good stead.”