Terang Mortlake premiership coach Matthew “Pud” Irving is poised to play his first senior game in five months when the Bloods tackle minor premier Warrnambool in tomorrow’s cut-throat showdown at Koroit’s Victoria Park.
Irving, who suffered a serious ankle injury against the Blues in round one, is one of six players named on an extended interchange bench for the preliminary final.
Assistant coach Michael Sargeant, who is also named on the bench, said the final make-up of the team would depend on conditions.
“He’s a pretty good chance to play,” Sargeant said of Irving.
“It is going to come down to the weather.”
The Bloods will have at least one inclusion tomorrow, with tough midfielder Mitch Couch unable to overcome a corked hip sustained in last week’s 14-point first semi-final win over defending premier Koroit.
Young defender Connor Arnott, who returns after TAC Cup duties with North Ballarat Rebels, would be favoured for a recall but selectors are clearly undecided about the mix of talls and running players, with Peter Moloney also included after dropping out of last week’s team.
Irving has a greater chance of being selected than Sargeant, who has been trying to overcome a stress fracture in his foot for the past six weeks and has had little game time after the club’s reserves team missed the finals.
Warrnambool also named an extended interchange bench with teenager Henry Jacobs, who has played 15 of the Blues 19 matches this season, left out.
He returns to the under 18s for a crunch match against Camperdown.
The Blues added speedster Liam Sheppard and defender Tim O’Keeffe to the team that suffered a 43-point loss to South Warrnambool in the second semi-final last week at Port Fairy.
Coach Adam Dowie revealed the Blues had a different week on the track, with players deciding the preparation.
“I put it on them, ‘you blokes are the ones who have to make it happen, you have to bounce back, you tell us what you want and what you need’,” Dowie said.
“They have to go out there and make it happen ... give them the responsibility and not tell them what to do. It would be a waste of a lot of hard work to miss out playing in a grand final after the position we were in. They know that.”
Dowie said the Blues would not be taking their unbeaten head-to-head record lightly.
“The first two games (against Terang Mortlake) there was a lot of pressure, a lot of turnovers and it was fairly scrappy and you can probably expect that again.”
But Dowie said the Blues would be unleashed and given a licence to attack.
“We probably need to really emphasise and focus on how we play and let them go,” he said.
“Hopefully we will be on the front foot in regards to taking the game on and being confident. We are focusing on how we want to play, you don’t want to go putting too much emphasis on the opposition because you can go away from your strengths.”
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