HEADS OF STEAM

DRIVEN SEAGULLS SOAR INTO GRAND FINAL

BARWON Heads co-coach Mitch Herbison says the hurt of last year’s shock grand final loss will be a “driving force” as his side bids to break a 26-year premiership drought.

The Seagulls booked their place in a second-successive BFL grand final, thrashing minor premier Geelong Amateur by 89 points in a stunning second semi-final result.

Herbison and Mitch Phelps combined for 12 goals in a formidable combination in attack, cashing in on the work of Sam Evans, Charlie Sprague and Mat Dyer.

Herbison’s troops have followed the same route to the grand final, earning the week’s rest, but he insists the job is far from done with some finetuning still needed.

“It’s great to be there, but we’re hurting from last year and we want to go one better,” Herbison said moments after addressing his players postmatch.

“The club hasn’t won one for a long time, so we’re keen to get one on the board.”

The Seagulls were comfortable winners in last year’s second semi-final, only for Modewarre to turn the tables in a stunning grand final upset a fortnight later.

Herbison believes the pain of defeat will motivate his players.

“It’s a bit of a driving force for the group, but having said that, we’ve got a bit of a different list to last year and now that we’ve qualified we’re keen to go one better,” he said.

Jumping out of the blocks to a 14-point quarter-time lead, Barwon Heads booted five goals to three in the second term to open up a handy 26point advantage at the main break.

But then the floodgates opened. Herbison (five goals) and Phelps (seven goals) were unstoppable in attack, while Evans had the ball on a string as the Seagulls put Ammos to the sword. “It was hot early and it was a bit scrappy,” Herbison said. “But we felt we could just work through it, keep wearing them down and we were confident if we tackled well and kept putting the pressure on them that we could open them up and that’s what we were able to do for a patch in that third quarter, and it got us going.”

The Seagulls moved the ball with pace and precision at times, making Geelong Amateur appear slow.

“It’s up there with one of our better performances for the year, but I still think there’s some things that we can work on,” Herbison said. “We seem to be getting better each week. Given we’ve got two weeks to prepare (for a grand final), hopefully we can fine tune a few things, improve in a few areas and keep building.”