Underdog Bombers daring to dream

Winter hopes to reward passionate fans

IT is a sporting version of the biblical battle between David and Goliath and in the starring role as the lad with the slingshot is Lauderdale coach Darren Winter.

The Tasmanian State League Grand Final at UTas Stadium tomorrow pits Lauderdale — a club based at the sleepy beachside suburb 20km southeast of Hobart — against North Launceston, currently the most powerful football club in Tasmania.

The Northern Bombers are into their fourth successive grand final. Of the past three, they have twice lifted the cup.

By contrast, the Lauderdale Bombers have never gone past the second week of TSL finals.

The club’s last grand final appearance was in the 2003 SFL Regional League playoff and its last premiership was in the Tasmanian Amateur Football League in 1991.

That is why there is such a buzz about tomorrow’s 2017 TSL premiership decider.

“Our community would be very proud if we won the grand final,” Winter said.

“People probably don’t realise that we were walloped and walloped in the first part of the TSL. We were mocked, and people took the piss out of us and our facilities.

“For us to be able to get up on Saturday would justify our decision to come into the State League when we probably weren’t ready for it.”

Lauderdale joined the State League when it was formed in 2009 and over that time had outstanding personnel, like stalwart former players Marcus Fitz and Tim Perkins.

Now in his eighth season as Lauderdale coach, Winter was appointed to the panel to find the club a coach in 2010, and took on the job himself.

“I’d been out of footy for a while and I was missing it at that stage, so I went home and talked to my family and they were supportive of it, so I took the job,” he said. “When I arrived they had come out of the country competition and were just starting to build into the TSL.

“They were on the right path, it just took a couple more years to get to the stage where they were going to start being competitive and change into a more professional club.”

Winter arrived in Tasmania from Geelong after missing selection in the AFL Draft in 1989.

“I came over for a practice match for Clarence and ended up staying,” he said.

“It’s the best decision I’ve ever made. Tasmania is a fantastic place to be — the best place in the country.”

Winter played 248 games for Clarence and was one of the most feared players in the competition.

He also played in an astonishing eight premierships for the Roos and was the 233rd person inducted into the Tasmanian Football Hall of Fame.

“When you were winning those premierships, it didn’t seem that big a deal but you look back now and realise it was a pretty special time,” Winter said.

He retired from playing in 2004, aged 37, after coaching Clarence to the SFL Premier League premiership, and concentrated on business until the Lauderdale job came along.

He had coached at Clarence in under-17, under-19 and reserves, and in his own right at Burnie Dockers in 1998-99.

Winter said he enjoyed his time with Burnie but said his experience with Lauderdale trumps the lot.

“The club is embraced by the community as much as the community is embraced by the club, it’s both ways,” he said.

“When you have a small community like Lauderdale and playing in the top competition, I suppose we are brought together by the fact that we are up against it in the sense of facilities and money and things like that.

“The supporters are really passionate. I really hope we can reward them by winning on Saturday.”

LAUDERDALE failed to focus on its clash with North Launceston two weeks ago, but the Bombers won’t make the same mistake twice.

Heading into the TSL grand final against North Launceston at UT as Stadium tomorrow, Lauderdale coach Darren Winter said his men were fit and firing — and ready for redemption.

“The win against Clarence in the qualifying final was probably the biggest game for the club to that point in time,” Winter said.

“It was the first time we’d met them in a final and won.

“The club was on a high after that.

“We didn’t reset quick enough and focus on the next game.”

The result was a 94-point thumping by North Launceston in the second semi-final two weeks ago.

“We won’t make the same mistake again,” Winter said.

“Everybody is really focused on the job at hand.”

Big ruckman-forward Toutai Havea is straight back into the 22 after serving a onematch suspension for rough conduct, and Jordan Roberts is a surprise selection after passing a fitness test on Wednesday for an ankle injury that kept him out of the preliminary final.

“Tou will go straight into the ruck with Haydn Smith, and Jordan Roberts has trained strongly this week, so two guys will go out to make way for them,” Winter said.

“We haven’t made that call yet because we weren’t expect- ing Jordan to come up. He trained pretty strongly yesterday with me, so that will be the painstaking decision we will have to make when we train and see who is all fit and well.”

It was one Winter was not looking forward to, and the unlucky players were Cam Hooker and Sam Adams.

“It’s probably the worst part of football, as a coach,” he said.

“You stew on it and stew on it. It’s upsetting from a coach’s point of view.

“These guys have worked for the whole year and some of them have worked for five years or more to get to this point.

“To tell someone they’re not playing in a grand final is heartbreaking.”

North Launceston made one change, with No. 1 ruckman Alex Lee returning from a strained hamstring that kept him out of the second-semi final victory.

The unlucky Northern Bomber making way was defender Tyran Mansell.