Grubbers play it cagey but still after victory

OCEAN Grove coach Paul Lynch says his side won’t flirt with its form as it prepares for a virtual dead-rubber against Modewarre.

With the Grubbers and Warriors almost certain to meet in an elimination final, the mind games have begun.

But Lynch said his side was determined to take Modewarre’s scalp for a second time this season when they clash at Ray Menzies Oval.

“Confidence is a big thing in footy,” he said.

“If we can win, it means we’ve beat them twice and we go in (to the final) with enormous confidence.

“At the same time, you’ve got to be careful not to show all your cards. We did speak about it at match committee and say ‘how do we approach it?’

“There’s players that we’d like to give a rest in the next few weeks like (Jake) Carmody, but do we do it this week or next week? All those things come into it.

“But you don’t want to get beaten at the same time because you don’t want to go into that first final with negative thoughts when we will most likely play Modewarre.”

Asked if he will change the structure of his side in a bit to protect the Grubbers game BIRREGURRA v SIMPSON plan, Lynch replied: “We’re definitely tried different things in the last six or seven weeks”.

“Some things have worked and we haven’t used them the next week. Things I’ve used at Colac I have put in place at Ocean Grove in the last month and some things have worked and some haven’t worked, so there will be certain areas of our game that we don’t want to show Modewarre if we play them in a final ... who might play on who and so forth.

“We want to win the game, there’s no question of that, but it is a catch 22, and you don’t want to show all your cards.”

Lynch admitted the club will consider resting ace forward Carmody, but remained tight-lipped on whether it will be against the Warriors.

Pat Moloney will return from a one-match suspension. SOUTH COLAC v IRREWARRA-BEEAC