Sport
13 September, 2023
Giants, Rats to go to another level | WFNL GF
It will be the fourth meeting between the two sides in 2023.
Football
WFNL
Southern Mallee senior coach Kieran Delahunty expects both sides to rise to the occasion for the 2023 WFNL grand final on Saturday, September 16.
Delahunty's side had the week off after it defeated the Rats on September 2.
"It was a pretty physical game last time against Ararat, so it was just about recovery early," Delahunty said.
Everyone pulled up well, which was good. So, having a week off was handy."
After Ararat's performance against Horsham Saints, the 2022 Toohey Medalist expects contested football to be the main focus at Dimboola Recreation Reserve.
"It's about continuing to put that pressure on Ararat and making it quite a physical game is probably something that you try and do," Delahunty said.
"Generally, all our finals have been quite contested, especially grand finals go to another level.
"I've always found there are no easy marks or easy positions in grand finals. So it's up to the guys to stand up."
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Ararat Senior coach Matt Walder believes his side was back to playing its best football after its 110-point preliminary final win on September 10.
"The response we obviously couldn't see that coming to that extent, and the Saints felt the full wrath of that," Walder said.
The Rats made three changes for the clash at Davis Park: captain Riley Taylor, strike forward Jack Ganley, and defender Adam Haslett returned from a long injury layoff.
Since round six, Haslett had not featured in the seniors, but ignoring his body of work in the reserves was hard for Walder.
"It was just unfortunate that we were playing well and winning games and had a stabilised back six," Walder said.
"For him just to slip straight in like he hadn't missed a beat was a terrific result for us last week."
When looking at the Rats' second meeting with Southern Mallee in three weeks, Walder expects a tough contest.
"There are a lot of elements when you've got two good sides and two bulls butting horns," Walder said.
"I don't think if someone gets on top of one area, the other team can combat in another area [of the game].
"I think it's going to be whoever gets the combination right and plays the most consistent brand of footy will get over the line."
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Reserves
The Horsham Demons could claim back-to-back reserves flags when it battles Ararat on Saturday, September 16.
However, the Rats will be the fresher of the two teams for the clash at Dimboola Recreation Reserve, having won the second semi-final by 28 points.
Horsham has gone the long way in securing its grand final berth with wins over Stawell, Horsham Saints and the Burras.
During the regular season, the two sides have a win each.
The Rats claimed a 79-point win in round four before Horsham gave Ararat its first and only loss of the season to date in round 13.
It will be a battle of the forwards at Dimboola, as each side possesses two of the top five of the league goal kicking.
Zach Louder and Corey Taylor finished in the top two, as Joshua Mibus and Cody Frizon finished third and fourth.
For the Demons, eyes will be on veteran Tim Wade, who failed to finish the preliminary final with a foot injury and was in a moon boot earlier this week.
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