A BELTER LOOMS TO BOOK DECIDER SPOT
A GOLD Coast derby will headline this weekend’s QAFL finals fixtures as the resurgent Labrador take on a Broadbeach team hoping to make it to its third grand final in four years.
It has all the ingredients of a Gold Coast blockbuster.
Tigers coach Nick Malceski spent 2020 as an assistant at the Cats and has been named the AFLQ senior coach of the year after lifting Labrador from eighth on the ladder last year, with a single win, to a minor premiership in his first season in charge.
On the other side of the fence Craig O’Brien’s Cats team have been edging closer and closer to winning their first senior premiership since 1996.
Broadbeach played in the premiership decider in 2018, were knocked out in the preliminary final in 2019 and went back to the grand final in 2020 but are yet to secure the flag they crave.
Liam Nelson and James Gledhill are the major players unavailable for Broadbeach while Labrador had 54 of its 55 players ready to be called upon, with Thomas Hofert still out of action after hurting his shoulder while playing for Essendon’s VFL team. Malceski said the support from the players and everyone at Labrador had played a huge role in the club’s turnaround as they look to secure a win that will lock in their place in the grand final. “We reflect as a club all the time on the little celebrations because it is important to do along the way,” Malceski said. “We are in a really good position and we have earnt it. We all should be proud, that is the players, the staff, the president and the whole footy club.
“I can come in and put down what I think is right and what works but if you haven’t got the support of the people around you then it doesn’t work. If you want to make it to the last day of September then you want to play the best and Broadbeach have been right up there.”
The Tigers have played two practice matches in recent weeks due to the Covid restrictions stopping community sport while the Cats have also managed to do some intra-clubs.
“We are as good as we are going to be,” O’Brien said.
“We have gained a lot of experience from the previous finals we have played and that is where you learn how to win the biggest games.
“We started the season well but struggled a bit when we lost eight of our best players while playing against some of the best teams. They are back now and we have a strong looking team. We know the work we have
put in but we don’t know what Labrador are going to be like.”