Cougars face challenge
Bombers pose major prelim test
AUSSIE RULES: They’ve set the benchmark for the entirety of the senior women’s competition so far in 2019.
However, University is up against its biggest challenge to date heading into tomorrow’s preliminary final against South Toowoomba.
Player availability forced the Cougars to forfeit their grand final qualifier against Toowoomba in Goondiwindi last weekend, and now they will be relying on a number of returning players to keep their season alive against a Bombers side full of momentum.
“At this stage we’re looking at anywhere between 18-20 players for this weekend,” coach Andrew Baird said. “A lot of those girls coming back from injury so we will see how the game goes.
“It will be good to get them back on the pitch and get our systems in place for a hopeful grand final spot.”
The Bombers come into tomorrow’s contest at Rockville Oval on the back of a 92-point elimination final victory over South Burnett.
Previous to that, they enjoyed their best performance of the year against the Cougars, getting to within five points of the minor premiers in the final round of the regular season.
Despite University holding a 5-0 record against South Toowoomba throughout the regular season, Baird said that meant nothing come opening bounce.
“South Toowoomba have been hitting their straps at the right time of the year and they’ve been getting good numbers,” he said.
“All year against them we haven’t been able to put them away. They’ve always stuck with us and we’re expecting another tough contest.
“Last time we played them it was reassuring that we could find ourselves down at halftime and fight our way back into the game.
“The girls took a bit of confidence out of that. It was unfortunate that we let ourselves get into that position to start with, but it showed that as long as we can stay in the game, we can come back.”
Baird is expecting another close encounter between the two sides, with a grand final berth against Toowoomba on the line.
“Looking at our available players, a lot are playing their first game in a couple of months,” he said. “I don’t think we’ll be putting the players where I’d like them and we’ll have players out of position. We still have a few that don’t quite have that match fitness yet, so we’ll be rotating pretty heavily.
“I doubt we’ll be able to create a healthy buffer, it will be a tough contest all day.”