Coutas can challenge from fifth: Clark

QUEENSCLIFF coach Steve Clark is adamant the premiership race is wide open, believing his side is capable of charging deep in September.

As the Coutas meet powerhouse Geelong Amateur in a cutthroat final on Sunday, Clark remains confident his side’s best is good enough.

Only one side (Torquay, 2006) has come from fifth to win the premiership, but he believes his side can buck that trend.

“If you look at the top five, sometimes a team will roll in from fifth and they’re four games behind the others,” he said.

“But this year, third, fourth and fifth are all on the same points, and Anglesea were only a game ahead with Barwon Heads at the top.

“During the year everyone was knocking everyone off, so you’ve just got to be the best team over the four weeks.

“We’re all chasing Barwon Heads, and it’s going to take a bit of luck, but everyone needs luck to win it. Sometimes it comes down to injuries, some teams have their 12 o’clock team playing and some don’t, so you’ve just got to hit that first hurdle, recover and attack the second one.”

After two encounters this season, Queenscliff and Geelong Amateur are locked at one apiece.

Ammos charged to a 28point win in Round 8, while the Coutas turned the tables in Round 16 to win by 12 points.

Clark said his side’s ability to adapt to significant change in the off-season had been the catalyst for the turnaround.

“It was always going to take a while to get going with a new coaching staff and new players to the club,” he said.

“How quickly it all took off was a bit of an unknown, so the difference between Round 8 and Round 16 could be put down to that, for sure.

“But each time you play there’s different personnel, different mindsets, different weather . . . a lot of things come into it.

“We know the way we want to play, and if we can execute that, we think we’re pretty hard to beat. But obviously Ammos will have a fair idea of how we like to play and they will be trying to stop that and play to their strengths as well.

“First time around they jump away from us in a 15minute period in the second quarter and we outscored them in the second half. Then the second time we had a good third quarter and they reeled us back but we hung on.

“So if you look at both games, we’re fairly evenly matched.”