Are the Old Collegians Warriors invincible?
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It certainly seemed that way after an 11-goals-to-one first half against reigning premier Dennington on Saturday.
The margin never drifted much further – the Dogs found some bite as the still-undefeated Warriors eased their foot off the pedal in the second half – but the 15.12 (102) to 8.6 (54) result showed the minor premiers hadn’t peaked yet.
The Warriors nailed their preparations coming off the week-one bye, hitting the scoreboard early and not taking a step back.
“It’s really good (to be through to the grand final); we’re really happy with the position we’ve been in and we used that week off to our advantage,” Old Collegians coach Josh Reichman said.
“It’s just been really proactive, that’s what we really concentrated on, making sure we were getting our hands on the footy first and really making them defend us.”
After the Dogs got the first goal of the match, it was all one-way traffic as the Warriors took the contest by the scruff of the neck.
Lewis lambasted the Dogs for a “lazy” opening term at quarter-time, but it was Old Collegians that drew first blood in the second, with a Josh Dwyer goal in the opening minute setting the ball rolling.
Dennington struggled to get the ball past its half-forward line, with Old Collegians repelling each attack they ventured.
“That was definitely a huge issue,” Dogs coach Darcy Lewis said.
“Our half-forwards just weren’t moving; they were too flat-footed. I suppose the delivery that came into them was pretty poor as well.
“When you combine the two of them – standing still and poor delivery – and you’ve got Collegians on their toes and in front, it was just going to rebounded hard out every single time.”
Lewis moved into the back-line after the main break to try to have more of an impact on the game and the Dogs began to fight their way back into the contest.
They kicked five goals to one, but were still 38 points down at the final change, and added just two more goals to the Warriors’ three in the last term.
The only real blight on the day for Old Collegians was a rolled ankle to returning forward Scott Day, but the Warriors are hopeful he will be right for the grand final in two weeks’ time.
He had been part of a potent forward combination which was causing headaches for Dennington’s defenders before the injury.
“Having three talls really helped us today, and we had that mismatch down there,” Reichman said.
“I think we were confident in our structures and we knew we could get that job done through our hard work around the ball. “