Tigers fearful of getting cold feet

AN impressive 12-0 start for Bannockburn has guaranteed the Tigers a third straight finals appearance — and gone a long way to securing the club the double chance.

But co-coach Peter Riccardi concedes his side now faces its ultimate challenge — the cold weeknights of July.

“We’ve got North Geelong this week (before playing Inverleigh) and we genuinely want a good contest to prepare us for the finals,” Riccardi said.

“But I think we’ve hit the hardest part of the year where the winter gets colder, blokes ring up to say they can’t train for a number of reasons and it’s hard to get the boys up and about.

“To be honest, it’s hard as a coach as well.

“But we’re 12-0 so we have to see how long this run goes for because we’re closing in on having our best side for the year.”

Bannockburn found the opening six and final four goals against fifth-placed Thomson on Saturday, securing the strong 16.13 (109) to 9.8 (62) win thanks to its endless list of ball winners around the middle.

Midfield gun Jack Brauman collected a modest 22 possessions by his prolific standards, Connor Jervies wove through the wings with class and 29-year-old Lincoln Peters fuelled the forward arc with a bevy of entries.

Key Bannockburn targets Jason Tom and Kieran Fulton thwarted their Thomson defenders to combine for six goals and 18 marks.

“We started off like a house on fire, we had the past players’ day on and the fans wanted a show, so I told the boys to put one on for them,” Riccardi said.

“They just jumped out of the gate and set us up from there on in.

“But we’re still not playing our best footy, there’s a gap in our competition, but we’re above the gap and we’re hoping to put our best footy together before the season’s end.”

Brent Jacques finished with two goals but received a contentious yellow card for his tackle on interleague hero Samuel Jacka.

But it is unlikely the former North Shore goalsneak will receive a suspension, potentially putting the return of Chris Reick (ankle), Ben Cole and Hayden Spiller (illness) on hold.

“We add these three players back, then we’ll have our best side and we will finally have some (selection) continuity right before the finals,” Riccardi said.

“It is what it is. I say to our boys if we finish on top then we make it to the preliminary final as a bare minimum.”

When naming his best player, Riccardi shined the light on the league’s most underrated defender.

“I still think Joshua Cole was probably our best player, we knew Jared Matheson was in good form, so we gave Josh the task and he denied him of the footy,” Riccardi said.

“Luke Bowdern and Nathan Kelly both gave us run and drive down back and as a result the game was never out of our control.”