Brothers hurdle to Olympic’s title goal
THEY’VE been the top sides all season and now MA Olympic and Brothers will battle it out for the premiership trophy in tonight’s North Queensland Premier League grand final at Brolga Park.
Brothers are looking to complete the treble after taking out this season’s minor premiership and NQ Cup while Olympic are chasing grand final redemption after losing the past two deciders.
Olympic can take confidence out of their 2- 1 win over Brothers in the major semi- final which earnt them a week off, but captain Theo Nicopoulos expected the minor premiers to come back strong.
“They’ve won the premiership for a reason. They’re a top side and we respect them very much and it’s going to be a very tough game,” he said.
“I like the week off and having the rest, but sometimes it can go against you.
“It’s good for injuries and recovery, but we’ve been training hard the last couple of weeks.
“It feels like we haven’t missed a game so we’re looking forward to the grand final.”
Olympic haven’t had much luck in recent grand finals, suffering shock defeats to Warriors ( 2015) and Rebels ( 2016), but Nicopoulos felt confident they could finally break through this year.
“We’ve been in a lot of finals in the past decade or so. We haven’t had the best of luck, but we’re confident we can get a result this weekend,” he said.
“We’re pretty much back to full- strength at the right time so hopefully we can put it all together.”
Brothers goalkeeper Antony Hall missed the semifinal loss to Olympic, but he was confident they now had the momentum after making the grand final with a strong 3- 1 win over Warriors.
“I think the loss has done us a favour to be honest,” he said.
“I believe the two best teams have made the grand final this year which is excellent for the league, but the main thing is now we’re looking to push forward.
“We’ve had some competitive games … but it’s grand final now.”
Hall said winning the grand final would be the icing on what has already been a memorable season for Brothers.
“We’re all very excited, none more so than myself after taking a few years off and getting roped in to playing this year, but I’m really, really enjoying it,” he said.
“It’s the first time we’ve won the league in seven years which is a big thing. That was our target at the beginning of the year.
“We won the Cup as well so that was massive and we’re looking to consolidate with the treble this year. It hasn’t been done for a while so we’re really looking forward to the game.”
Kick- off in tonight’s grand final is at 8pm at Brolga Park.