First goal’s pivotal

Saints aiming for an early edge against Brothers to keep grand final hopes rolling

MOMENTUM is everything at finals time and Saints’ men and women are backing their red-hot sides to abruptly end Brothers’ bright hopes of returning to the top of the Cairns Hockey tree.

The two clubs will battle out A-grade semi-finals tomorrow and drawing first blood is being seen as the key element to putting the wind in their sails.

Saints coach Peter Rowe said while the club had become experts at chasing in 2017, at fi- nals time it was all about leading from the front.

“We’ve got to be first on the board. In any final, being first on the board is a bit of a relief,” he said.

“If you can score the first goal, I wouldn’t say you relax, but everyone starts to be a lot more confident.”

Rowe said the mental edge of finals experience, mixed in with the dynamic play of unorthodox youngsters such as Caleb Simpson, would pay dividends and particularly backed defenders Cam Anderson and Bob Barron to hold the mental edge over the less experienced Brothers forwards.

Brothers player Jarrod Holmes said most players would have a few nerves playing their first finals match, but said the chance to create history would quickly override their emotions.

“No one in our team has won a final in A-grade, so it’s different territory,” he said.

“I haven’t played in a semifinal before, so we’re a little bit nervous but I think with the experience we have, we can get the right result.

“I think our team has bonded really well ahead of our semi and we’re feeling really good and really confident. Hopefully it’s our time to shine.”

Brothers’ women have experience from last year’s unsuccessful semi-final against the same opposition and coach Terry Brodin said it had been a talking point this week.

The team discussed their tactics over a Wednesday night dinner to break down their last start loss to Saints.

“We’re looking forward to the challenge,” Brodin said.

“We spoke about the last time we played them and some of the issues from that game and hopefully we’ve got it in us to overcome those issues.”

But Saints skipper Katie Russo was full of confidence they could repeat the 2016 result and earn the right to make amends against Souths in the grand final.

“I think we’ve got a very high chance of winning the entire thing and I definitely think we’ve got a great chance of beating Brothers. I don’t doubt us at all,” she said.

“We’ve got one of the best midfields in the competition so I think any of them can be dangerous. Our whole team is strong.”

The men’s A-grade semifinal starts at 4pm, followed by the women at 5.30pm.

I HAVEN’T PLAYED IN A SEMI-FINAL BEFORE, SO WE’RE A LITTLE BIT NERVOUS BUT I THINK WITH THE EXPERIENCE WE HAVE, WE CAN GET THE RIGHT RESULT BROTHERS A-GRADE MEN’S PLAYER JARROD HOLMES