Three-time Pascoe Cup premiership winner Ben Angel, 34, is confident he’ll drink from the coveted cup again on Sunday.
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This time, if he wins, victory will taste particularly sweet.
For the first season in his long history with Lake Albert, Angel’s the captain, a role he has relished after co-captaincy in 2015.
“We’ve improved a lot this year on last year,” he said.
“We had a disappointing finish, and to make such a massive gain in 12 months has been good.”
The Sharks have transformed more significantly than any of their rivals, finishing eighth of 10 in 2015, and as minor premiers in 2016.
Angel made it his mission to ensure they’d put up a fight this season.
“It was a bit of a recruitment mission to get everyone back together,” he said.
“We looked good on paper in the pre-season; pretty even across the park.”
Theory became reality as the squad of talented, experienced players continued to commit, and fulfil team goals.
Now there’s one goal left; winning the Pascoe Cup, and one team standing in their way; Cootamundra.
“The worst case scenario would be that we don’t win, but to be honest, we don’t discuss it,” he said.
“We’ve set our goals and targets, we’ve achieved a lot of them.
“So this week is our final goal.”
His loyalty to the club has been unshakable.
At seven, he played his first game for Lake Albert, and he has continued to play for the club ever since.
He has never considered defecting.
“There’s been a little bit of banter with some ex Lake Albert players that are at Junee," he said.
“I think most people probably know I’ve been with Lake coming up to 27 years, that there’s probably not much chance of that happening.”
It’s little wonder; he’s had an illustrious career with the Sharks featuring nine Football Wagga grand final appearances.
His close friends keep him coming back, year after year.
“In the last 10 years or so of playing seniors, there’s a core group of us that have been there the whole time,” Angel said. “I’ve been best man at weddings, we had five or six weddings in the last couple of years where we’ve all been there together.”
As the team prepares for the big dance on the field, they all know what’s required of them.
“We all know our role,” Angel said.
“We’ve been fairly stable this year. Everyone’s confident in their player around them.”
Kick-off: Sunday, 5.40pm.
