THE Dowie household is divided this week.
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Dad Adam is preparing to coach North Warrnambool Eagles in the Hampden league senior football grand final against son Noah's Koroit.
Noah, 14, will run water as the Saints plot the Eagles' demise at Reid Oval on Saturday.
The eldest of Adam's four children opted to stay a Saint when he vacated the Koroit coaching position at the end of the 2016 season after leading the club to a hat-trick of premierships.
This year Noah had a tough choice when Adam returned to the coaching hot seat with the Eagles but ultimately decided his allegiances lay with the red, white and black.
The father-son combination is ready for the stakes to rise when the clubs go head-to-head in the grand final.
"I have been a bit more secretive about where the computer is and the iPad which has got the teams on it," Adam said tongue-in-cheek.
"We had a meeting last night here (at our house) and Noah was banished from the back room."
Noah is expecting some banter from his dad's players when he runs the water.
"I am pretty nervous to run out there because I know most of the North boys and they are all good lads and the Koroit boys as well," he said.
"Before the game the runners will say 'give it to the Koroit boys' and will have a joke with me."
Koroit and North Warrnambool Eagles have played each other three times already in 2019 and father and son focus on their respective teams.
"You forget he's out there to be honest," Adam said.
"It was funny a couple of weeks ago at Mortlake (for the second semi-final), we went together, I dropped him off and we had our meeting and we travelled in the car on the way back.
"He was reasonably happy and dad wasn't and was pretty disappointed.
"I have no problem with him being at Koroit. He loves it out there and I don't blame him.
"They are really good people and they take really good care of him so it's no problems but it might be a bit different this week."
Adam is hoping the grand final is a win-win for his son - he'll be happy if Koroit wins and proud if his dad adds a seventh Hampden league premiership to his coaching record.
"Noah wants Koroit to win but if dad ends up winning he won't be too disappointed with that either," he said.
"Noah will probably head to Koroit and I'll be going to Bushfield (after the game) but he's been out at North Warrnambool a bit as well and he enjoys it out there."
Noah conceded Koroit celebrating another premiership was his first choice but "if dad wins I'll be pretty happy as well".
Noah, who goes to Warrnambool College where his dad teaches, played in an under 14 grand final for the Saints last month.
"I have had so many good mates and it's a really good club and they take care of me," he said.
"I might have another year there and see how I go and where I go from then."
Adam's wife Jane and other children Flynn, 12, Elijah, 10, and Oliver, 8, will be part of the Reid Oval crowd on Saturday.
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