Riccardi’s 10-month plan pays off with flag victory

BY his own admission, the happiest person at The Gordon TAFE Oval in the minutes after the GDFL grand final was Peter Riccardi.

The Bannockburn coach could not hide his satisfaction as he explained how he laid out a plan 10 months before to start the march towards a flag.

The simple idea was to tick off three components — the pre-season, the regular season and the finals — all the way until September.

“I’m rapt, I’m the happiest bloke out here,” Riccardi said after his side upset Thomson by six points in yesterday’s grand final.

“Not just for myself but for all of these guys — we started this in November. After today we’ve ticked all the boxes, which is a credit to the boys.”

Facing a deficit after a dominant six-goal second quarter from Thomson, Riccardi said his players had held firm in the belief they could be the better side for the remainder of the day.

A three-goal burst to start the final term put the country Tigers into a lead they wouldn’t surrender.

“I thought for three quarters we were the better side … our backline held up really well,” Riccardi said.

“(Our players) had the will to push themselves in the end, they just willed themselves to contest after contest in that last quarter.

“It was just about workrate and getting numbers around the contest — both sides were out on their legs in that last quarter but the grit and the want got us over the line.”

After banishing the ghost of the 2016 grand final loss to Bell Post Hill, Riccardi said he hoped to keep the core of his team together and defend the title.