COBDEN midfielder Sam Uwland knows vital ingredients for playing deep into finals: Enthusiasm and inspiration.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In 2012, when Uwland was still finding his feet in a young side, the “Baby Bombers” built incredible momentum to rise from seventh spot on the ladder after round eight – back in the days of an eight-team Hampden league competition – to play off in the grand final against Warrnambool.
Uwland still looks on it as the highlight of his career to date, even though the Bombers lost that day.
“We got towards the end of the season and got a bit inspired (that) we were still able to make finals,” he said.
“Being a young side, there was all this enthusiasm about the side.”
The 2014 club best and fairest runner-up is will play his 100th senior game for the Bombers when they host Portland on Saturday, alongside defender-turned-midfielder Jake Evans.
Evans was also part of the 2012 runner-up team and said it showed what could be achieved with commitment.
“Everyone was playing for the team. Everyone just stepped up when they had to,” he said.
“Just to get to that position from where we were – it was pretty amazing to play in front of a crowd like that and in a game like that.
“We had been sitting third coming in and we played a really good prelim against North Warrnambool Eagles. That was a pretty amazing game to play in, too.”
Now Evans and Uwland, both 24, are hoping the Bombers of 2016 can start to build towards having a finals presence of their own.
Having cracked into the top five for the first time this season – claiming fourth spot after last week’s 10-goal win over Hamilton Kangaroos – the Bombers are looking to strengthen their claim on a finals berth.
“We’ve scraped together three wins in a row now – we all sat down as a group after the bye and we set some goals,” Evans said.
“There’s a chance for us to play finals. Everyone is doing extra (work) and just committing themselves.”
Cobden co-coach Wayne Robertson praised Evans’ and Uwland’s contributions to the team.
"They've been very loyal to our club the last few years when we've had a large exodus of players,” he said.
"To reach (100 games) on the same day is a good occasion. They're tremendous blokes to have around the footy club.
"They have demonstrated good leadership, train really hard and give their all week in, week out."
Damon Delaney is set to make his return from a knee reconstruction through the reserves on Saturday.