Warriors still see Torquay as the benchmark
MODEWARRE says it will not be distracted by the Torquay salary cap saga tonight, instead focusing on the things it can control.
The Warriors and Tigers meet this evening at Spring Creek Reserve in the first ever BFL Good Friday clash.
A huge crowd is expected to see the reigning premiers in action for the first time since the club was sanctioned over player payment breaches.
But Modewarre coach Josh Finch said his team was only interested in playing football and would not let his players be sidetracked from the task at hand.
“We addressed that as soon as it caught wind and got out in the media, but it’s about what we can control,” Finch said.
“We said to the boys ‘let’s just prepare the best we can and not worry about what they’re doing’, because it’s out of our control. We’re just preparing as normal to give ourselves the best chance heading into the game.
“We’re out there to play our best footy and that’s our instructions to the players. We just want to be the side that settles first in a game of footy that we can certainly win.”
Finch said it’s always difficult to assess how opposition teams are travelling at the start of the season, but he expects Torquay will be a challenging match-up again.
“They’re the benchmark with the way they played last year and it’s Round 1 so we said to the boys ‘You’re going into the unknown’, it’s a new game style, new recruits and that’s the important thing to us is to settle first and get in the groove of the game before the opposition does,” he said.
“You’ll know more about opposition clubs in the next couple of weeks and that is the challenge of a new season.
“They’ve had four months to work on their weaknesses and improve on their strengths as well, so for us it’s been a good pre-season but they’re a quality line-up with some really good players.”