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SOUTHS co-captain Liam Whipp says his side will be wary of Brothers’ “weird” style of play and the problems it can cause when they meet in Saturday’s A-grade men’s decider. “They’re a tricky one,” he said.
“They definitely play the weirdest style of hockey I’ve ever played against, and just trying to match up to how they play.
“With their line-up, most teams will play three at the front, three through the middle and four across the back.
“But they seem to have three at the back and have a bloke kind of like a rover always going around, which confuses the defence.”
Souths will be fuelled by last year’s heartbreaking 2-1 grand final defeat to Saints as they look to get back on top of the competition, and will go into the big dance on the back of an impressive campaign, in which they lost just once across the 14-game season.
Whipp says the side will be trying to send veteran players Rodney Whipp and Brendan McAllister out with a win.
“They only just came back to help out at the end of the season, so this will probably be the last year they play A-grade,” he said.
Brothers co-captain Peter Sceresini was part of the Fury’s triumph in 2017, and was there when Souths reversed the result in 2019.
He said not getting caught up in the moment would be the focus for Brothers, after it was part of their downfall two years ago.
“The 2019 grand final, I feel like there was a lot of emotion and a lot of energy, even the day before the game, and we just couldn’t stay away from all the atmosphere and the expectations and just play the game,” he said.
“I think there’ll be a big emphasis this year to just chill out and do your regular thing – it’s just another game of hockey, let the ball do the work, leave it all out on the field and try and block out everything else.”
Sceresini said young gun Ryan Cartwright, who was recently named A-grade men’s player of the year at just 15 years of age, was in scintillating form and would be one to watch.