Rangers man has the plan
CHRIS Collins thinks he knows where Marlin Coast is vulnerable and the dangerous thing is his Southside team has become quite good at executing his plans.
The same can be said for Stuart Veall and the Rangers, setting the scene for tonight’s thrilling 2017 Premier Men’s grand final.
But Collins insists it’s all about the players and his are armed with the tools and belief to succeed.
“Everyone’s got to buy into your plan. If you’ve got a good plan as a coach and the players buy into it, you’re laughing,” he said. “They play the game. “I help them, I set them up, I prepare them, but they go play the game.
“I think I know where Marlin Coast are vulnerable, so we’ll work on that, exploiting their weaknesses.”
Collins has given his players free reign in the final third this season and what they do at that end of the field could well stem from their own end.
“We defend in a certain way and the players know the system we defend. We play a defensive system that allows more people to attack, which is a conundrum, but the players know it,” he said.
Collins said he would simply urge his Comets to enjoy the experience of a senior grand final and they know it will be a physical one after rival coach Veall announced his plans to rough up the young guns.
Marlin Coast’s Giovani Tognoni said his side was “really excited” to have a chance to win the trophy after grinding through a tough season of player turnover and changing tactics.
“I’m not going to say we didn’t plan it. We thought we could make it that’s for sure. But everything is not as it seems at beginning,” he said.
“We knew we had a team, we just had to put it together. So many new people but we had to work together well.”
Tognoni said in a way Rangers were ready for anything thanks to coach Veall, who has made new plans for every opposition this season.
The training load has also increased in the run to the finals and he felt everything was in place for a Marlin Coast win.
“We’re trying as much as we can to cover every aspect of the game,” Tognoni said.
“We kind of change our game plan every single game, but we made it, we’re in the grand final and this is the last game.
“Every situation is different. We’re going to have to read it properly and be focused, be sharp, maybe for 90 minutes, maybe more. We just need to be sharp all the way through.”