Coolamon’s Under 17.5s won’t be short of support on Saturday as the Hoppers chase the club’s first premiership in the grade in 24 years.
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After finishing eighth the last two years, Coolamon have launched a massive finals campaign on the back of players returning from first grade and will meet reigning premiers Turvey Park in the opening game of football at Narrandera (9.30am start).
Finishing fifth on the ladder, they’ve dispatched Griffith (by 65 points), Leeton-Whitton (105 points) and Collingullie-Glenfield Park (16 points) in three sudden-death finals.
“The supporters – three quarters of Coolamon have been there, I reckon,” coach Hayden Bradley said. “The crowds are massive. The whole town has come on board all the way through the season, not just in the finals.”
Bradley praised the morale of his team which battled through most of the home-and-away season with a bare minimum of players. He said the finals success hasn’t gone to their heads.
“They’ve been good. They’re a pretty level headed group. They’re excited and a pretty confident group of young men but they’re not getting too confident,” he said.
“They’ve played good team footy and they’re a pretty closely-bonded unit. Obviously we’ve had eight guys in first grade but the character and spirit in the 17s has been great all year.”
Turvey dominated both meetings in the home-and-away season winning by 114 points and 90 points.
The teams haven’t come across each other since round 10 though. Coolamon’s Ryan Allen, Liam Delahunty and Cooper McKelvie have 32 goals between them in their three finals while Braeden Glyde played 13 senior games during the year.
But Turvey also have a host of players with senior experience including Alex Carroll, Jackson Hughes, Ryan Shaw, Cody Bramich and Harry Woods. The Bulldogs also beat the Demons to qualify. They’ve dropped just two games all year and at least half of their squad was part of last year’s big Under 17 grand final win.
“They haven't got there through one or two players, their whole side has been really good,” Bradley said of of the Bulldogs.
“Between them and Gullie, they were the top two all year. For us to beat Gullie last weekend was huge. The boys were pretty pumped about that and hopefully we can go for one more.”
