EVERYTHING comes down to this, after a season full of drama and upsets, the Northern Valley Premier League grand final is upon us.
Cohuna Golf will be facing Kerang for the fifth and final time this season, the two teams getting the best out of each other, with both teams winning twice against their opponent.
For Kerang, after a season taking care of second place, now find themselves full of confidence, having defeated the top side of Cohuna Golf twice, a feat no other team has done this season.
Kerang’s skipper, Dale Hancock has stated that his side is very keen for this match.
“Everyone is pretty pumped to play in the final,” he told the Gannawarra Times.
“It’s what we have aimed for since the start of the season, so yes the side is pretty keen for Sunday.”
After a solid start to the season with six wins and one loss, they would find the middle half of the season as a bit of a struggle.
They ended the season with nine wins and five losses.
But in the semi-final, a miracle happened and they won in a massive upset, defeating Cohuna Golf and proceeding straight towards the grand final.
Keeping in mind, the weekend before the Black Ducks defeated Cohuna Golf in round 14 which was the final round of the home and away season.
Hancock gave a little insight on what was going on behind the scenes prior to the Round 14 and semi final match
“Coming into the final round, we all knew we had to chip in and do our bit so we could actually make finals,” he said.
”Fortunately, we did get the win and make it through, then we defeated them in the second semi in a hard fought contest to go straight in (to the grand final).
“I’d like to say that we are quietly confident but we also know that Cohuna Golf have been an amazing side for the past 20 years so there is a lot of respect there.”
For Cohuna Golf, after being undefeated for the whole season until they lost in the final round of the season, they had a more difficult path than what they hoped for.
After losing to Kerang in the semi-final, they had to go up and face a determined Murray Downs side who were confident for a result.
Luckily for Cohuna Golf, they were able to hold the Rams off and redeem themselves to make the grand final.
Cohuna Golf president John Keely said earlier this week that their game plan is just to bowl better than the Black Ducks to get the win.
“There is nothing that separates us every time we face Kerang,” he said
“The plan is to just get more shots than them.”
The season objective for Cohuna Golf was to make the grand final and win it, now they are only one win away from completing the objective.
“It’s been our aim all year, we wanted to win the premiership,” he said, when he was asked on what it was like making the grand final earlier this week.
“Now we are giving ourselves the chance on doing that.”
It will all come down to the determination on who wants it more, it will take a team effort from both sides to get the job done.
