Nick Bourke of Noorat and Lewis Taylor of Mortlake.
GEELONG Falcons region manager Michael Turner believes the TAC Cup side has already surpassed expectations heading into week two of the finals series.
The Falcons named Terang Mortlake’s Lewis Taylor, Cobden’s Daniel Watson and Kolora-Noorat’s Nick Bourke for their semi-final clash against Sandringham Dragons at Princes Park on Sunday.
Turner said the club’s bottom-age players had led the way this season, with Taylor and Bourke among those to impress.
“We thought we did pretty well with our young group to make finals and on the weekend we beat Murray Bushrangers with three 19-year-olds, four 18-year-olds and 15 17-year-olds,” he told The Standard.
“That is very unusual for TAC Cup in a final.
“Every final is a bonus for us and we hope to do well.”
Terang Mortlake’s Alex Moloney was named as an emergency.
Moloney has played 11 TAC Cup matches as a bottom-age player this year. He will play for the Bloods in their Hampden league under 18 first semi-final against North Warrnambool Eagles on Sunday.
Turner said the Falcons saw Moloney as a defender, while he’s played in attack for the Bloods.
“He’s recently grown a bit,” he said.“He’ll be a good player next year.” Sandringham was too strong for Geelong in round six, running out 22-point victors. “The Dragons have a lot of private school boys so their side changes a lot,” Turner said.
“Ours has a lot too since then.” Turner said the weather conditions could dictate play on Sunday.
He said if the weather was fine, Geelong would be able to implement its run and carry to full effect.
“We are very quick and do move the ball quickly and are very skilled,” he said.
“The better the conditions, the more we can exploit them with our pace.”
Dandenong Stingrays play Oakleigh Chargers in the other semi-final.
North Ballarat Rebels and Gippsland Power have the weekend off after winning through to a preliminary final in week one of the TAC Cup finals series.