Hevey artillery ready to strike

AS one of his side’s most experienced players, Alex Hevey knows how much winning today’s TSL grand final would mean to the Lauderdale community.

Hevey, who notched up his 200th game in Round 10 this year, will be one of 15 Lauderdale players to feature in consecutive grand finals and he says that experience can only benefit his side heading into today’s game.

“We know how it all works now so we will have a focus on being a lot more relaxed heading in today,” Hevey said.

Much has been made of Lauderdale’s performance in last year’s decider, but after the additions of Henry Kerinaiua, Tim Mosquito and Jacob Gillbee along with the development of Phillip Bellchambers and Nat Franklin, Hevey believes they are better placed to seriously challenge the side that defeated them by 87 points this time last year.

“We lost some really good players at the start of the year, but we’ve added a few new guys which took some time for the team to come together,” Hevey said.

Hevey was one of the Bombers’ best in last year’s defeat. He pointed to last week’s comefrom-behind victory over Glenorchy as a sign of how much the group has developed this season.

“I thought it was a massive characterbuilding indication. We were down by five goals at one stage and could have easily thought ‘this is it’, but we showed some real grit and fight.”