Winter backs men to deliver

Coach says Bombers will rise to challenge

IT has been a month since Lauderdale last sung the team song, but coach Darren Winter is confident the pressure cooker of TSL finals will bring out the best of his troops today.

The Bombers head into the qualifying final against Glenorchy on the back of three consecutive losses — one to the Pies in the second-last round — and following a bye.

However Winter is adamant his players’ confidence has not been dented during the winless streak which stretches back to Round 17 against the Tigers, despite some dip in individual form.

“Everybody at the club is in really good spirits, obviously we’ve had a bit of a break but training has been really good, the mood is really good a the club,” Winter said.

“The players are looking forward to the game.

“I haven’t sensed any of that [a drop in morale], everything has been really positive.

“I think the finals will bring a step up from everyone, everything steps up in finals, it is not the same game as a roster game so all of that builds in to us having a bit of confidence going into the game.

“While we haven’t been playing our best footy we can turn that around pretty quick.”

Winter confirmed key defensive general Josh McGuinness will not play after failing to recover from a hamstring injury in time, but Robbie McManus (ankle) got through Thursday night’s training and will take his spot.

With the Bombers dominating recent showdowns between the two at their home ground and Glenorchy doing likewise at KGV, the neutral venue of Blundstone Arena adds some extra intrigue to the clash of the two southern heavyweights.

But Pies coach Paul Kennedy refuses to buy in on his outfit’s laststart victory, a comprehensive eight-goal hiding.

“What’s happened for years is Lauderdale have won at Lauderdale and we’ve won at KGV,” Kennedy said.

“I think it’s two really evenly matched teams.

“I think when we’ve played on the really tight ground at Lauderdale that they’re used to they’ve had the better of it, and when we’ve played on the wide ground at KGV that we’re used to, we’ve had the better of it.

“I reckon Bellerive sits somewhere between the two of those so it’s almost like meeting in the middle, so I expect it to be a really good game.

“There’s not a lot of secrets for either of our teams about what we do, it’s the team that’s most switched on to one win the ball, but to then negate the other team’s strengths and whoever does those two things best will probably win on Saturday.”