Kolora-Noorat looks set to be without in-form ruckman Matt Deman for its entire finals campaign.
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Deman injured his ankle in his team’s 10.12 (72) to 6.8 (44) final-rounnd loss to Old Collegians on Saturday.
Coach Danny Finn said it was disappointing.
“He did his ankle pretty bad and had to be carried off and was taken to hospital,” he said.
“It doesn't look good, his season looks done. And it looks to be the ligaments which can we worse than an actual break.
“In a timing perspective it’s not ideal, he played the last six to eight games and had been in reasonable form playing his role well and catching teams out.
“It’s obviously disappointing for Matt and he was keen to have an impact in the finals.”
The Power went into the match with a very different line up after naming an “unchanged” team.
Finn said the fact several players didn’t take the field was not a mind game or strategy, as the Power meet the Warriors in the qualifying final.
"I am not sure if blokes saw the weather forecast or not,” he said.
"But I couldn't believe it in terms of my phone ringing Friday night and Saturday morning with blokes who couldn't play.
"At the end of the day, the game didn't make a difference to where we finished.
"The week off will help those guys with preparation for finals and overcoming soreness. And we have a lot that travel so a week off travelling won't hurt."
Old Collegians also confirmed it rested some players.
Coach Josh Reichman said knowing it played the Power in their first final did not change the way he coached.
"We tried a few things, more positional changes, nothing really strategically," he said.
"We played Scott Lenehan a little more forward and tried to isolate Sam Dwyer up forward. Just trying a few things for finals.”
The Warriors would have finished on top, claiming the minor premiership and earning the week off, had Nirranda lost to Merrivale.
Reichman said finishing second might not be all that bad.
“It’s actually a bit of a monkey off our back in a way,” he said.
“I think it will give us a different mindset because we’ve had the week off the last two years. So it’s probably good to go in a bit different with a different group and different feel.”