NORTH Warrnambool Eagles co-coach Graeme Twaddle believes qualifying final favouritism lies with Warrnambool despite his side’s emphatic final round victory on Saturday.
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The Eagles produced a damaging fourth quarter blitz to cement third spot and book a rematch against their Hampden league cross-town rival next weekend.
They turned a 26-point early final term deficit into a 32-point win after piling on 8.11 in withering spell.
The 14.26 (110) to 12.6 (78) result was enough to edge out third spot contender Port Fairy on percentage.
North Warrnambool Eagles co-coach Graeme Twaddle was thrilled with his charges’ performance.
“I think it gives the boys a little bit of faith that what we’re doing is on the mark,” he said.
“Hopefully with Warrnambool, all of a sudden they might have to juggle things around a little bit to counteract what we’re doing.
“It might upset their structures a bit.”
Twaddle said the Eagles would embrace the underdog tag next weekend.
“I have no doubt if we play that last quarter football, we can certainly do it again,” he said.
Twaddle said the Eagles’ youth proved their worth.
Key forward Josh Corbett – one of their most promising teenagers – booted a game-high five goals.
“We knew that if we were within striking distance at three-quarter-time we were always a chance because the run and enthusiasm of those kids. As I have said before, there is no ceiling on it,” he said.
Warrnambool coach Scott Carter is confident the Blues will avoid any psychological damage from their final-term fade out.
“We’ll move on pretty quick. We are a pretty resilient group. We have overcome a lot of hurdles over the last five years,” he said.
“This year to go 15-3 with the player losses we’ve had throughout season shows our resilience and shows we can overcome a bit of adversity.”
Carter said Warrnambool, which has lost three players to season-ending knee injuries, backed itself to respond.
“It is a new ball game next week. I said to our boys after the game that we move on quickly,” he said.
“We’ve had a really good home and away season. If someone had have said to us 15-3, we’d have grabbed that with both hands.”
The Eagles are sweating on the fitness of swingman Tom Batten who hurt his hamstring in the win but will regain key forward Dylan Parish for the qualifying final, while the Blues will welcome back Brad Bull and Brendan Moore from injuries.
