THE selection table before the grand final is usually littered with dilemmas.
Dennington and Kolora-Noorat both experienced those last night but it didn’t show on the team sheets.
Rather than list extended benches like previous grand finalists, the teams have seemingly bared all.
Both sides are unchanged for tomorrow’s season decider at Reid Oval.
Kolora-Noorat keeping the same team as last week’s preliminary final against Panmure means key defender Jamie Whitehead will miss out on the grand final due to injury — the second time in three years he has been forced to do so.
Coach Ben Kenna said Whitehead, who preferred not to talk to The Standard earlier this week, was simply unlucky.
“It’s disappointing for him to have it happen at this time of the year but there always seems to be people who are injured or miss out,” he said.
The Power’s clubrooms were electrifying last night, with footballers having to search hard for a spare seat after coming in from training due to it being packed.
“There’s obviously some excitement in the air,” said Kenna, who explained players heard from former Fitzroy footballer Brian Brown last night.
The Power coach said his side’s week on the training track had been fairly light.
“Just because of the ground being a bit heavy,” he said.
“We just worked on some skills.”
Last year Kolora-Noorat made history as the club claimed its first senior Warrnambool and District league flag.
The term back-to-back has not been raised with the side this season.
“At the end of the day it’s a great achievement but that was the past and this is the present,” Kenna said.
Dennington has listed two emergencies for tomorrow: Nick Short and Sean Fogarty.
The pair, along with Wayne Davies and James Barton, have trained with the Dogs throughout the finals series.
Dogs coach Ben Parkinson was the one who broke the news after training last night that they had not been included in the 21 for tomorrow.
“They hadn’t been in the side for a couple of weeks but it’s still one of the hardest things I’ve had to do in footy,” he said.
Dennington had some extra eyes on it at training this week.
“We had some of the members of the 1988 premiership side who were in town come up and have a look and have a few beers,” Parkinson said.
“There’s a good vibe around the club.” The senior footballers are the Dogs’ only grand final side.
Meanwhile, the Power have a combined five teams playing tomorrow.
“Their colours are probably going to outnumber the red and white but we’ll still have good support,” Parkinson said.
Dennington will not be tweaking its schedule this week.
“We’re just treating it as another game, Dennington versus Kolora-Noorat,” Parkinson said. “We haven’t had any special meetings or anything like that.
“Everyone will just go to the game their own way. We’re just keeping everything as normal.”
That included training this week, with the Dogs on the track Tuesday and last night.
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