REVENGE NO ISSUE

Bombers back for another crack at grand final

LAUDERDALE coach Darren Winter insists atoning for last year’s grand final humiliation will not be a driving force as the Bombers strive to tame TSL juggernaut North Launceston.

The two clubs will square off for the second consecutive season at UTas Stadium on Saturday after Lauderdale recovered from 29 points down just before halftime to overrun Glenorchy in the preliminary final.

It gives the club — which last year was playing in its first senior grand final since 1991 — the chance to atone for the 87-point drubbing as the northern Bombers waltzed to their third premiership in four years.

There was also plenty of fallout, with Winter suspended for the first six matches of 2018 for abusive and threatening language towards the umpires.

And North president Thane Brady accused the southern players of deliberately looking to start spot fires.

However, Winter declared the bitter finish 12 months ago will not be used as motivation.

“You can’t get anything back from last year … it doesn’t matter what we do, we can’t change that,” he said.

“This is a different 22 that is going to go out there.

“It [redemption] hasn’t been spoken about and won’t be spoken about. Today [the preliminary final] will be spoken about because we didn’t get things right, so we need to fix a few things.

“The big thing we learned from last year is it is bloody hard to win a premiership. It doesn’t get handed to you.

“You have to earn it, and we didn’t do that last year. This year we get another opportunity to have a crack at it.

“Last year was special because it was the first grand final for the club for a long time, but it is a different group of players and it is special to them because they have done all the hard work to earn a spot this year.”

Lauderdale has already created a slice of TSL history, becoming the first team from outside the top three to reach the decider after storming from fifth to rout Clarence and Launceston before storming home against the Pies.

And Winter believes for the core group that will be returning, the experience will be invaluable.

“I think so, there will be 14 or 15 players who were part of last year that have had the experience, they will learn a few things from it,” he said.