Temora assistant coach Luke Gerhard is hoping for a double celebration on his first Father's Day.
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The morning will be spent with son, Harry, who's three weeks old on Sunday, before the focus switches to football and the Kangaroos' nemesis, Marrar, in the first semi-final at Maher Oval.
Gerhard said he's the same as any new parent trying to adjust to new sleep patterns, or lack thereof, and Harry's also provided a distraction amid sudden-death football.
"I never gave it a thought but to play on Father's Day, for your first child, will be pretty special," Gerhard said.
"Obviously I've had my mind taken off the game a bit with Harry, but I have been thinking about Marrar - they've had the wood over us for a couple of years."
It's almost two years to the day since Temora had their last win against Marrar, in the second semi-final in 2017.
But the Bombers had the last laugh, reversing the result in the grand final two weeks later, and have maintained their dominance since.
"I think we match up pretty well on them but it's about playing with confidence," Gerhard said.
"It probably is (some mind games). Leading up to the games everyone's up and about and keen and it doesn't seem like a confidence thing but once they get on top, we seem to drop off pretty quickly.
"Hopefully we can come out with confidence and stick it with them for the whole game."
There might be three sources of confidence for the Kangaroos: their third quarter at Marrar last time they met, when they got the game back on their own terms (but failed to take their rewards); a big win against Coleambally in last week's elimination final, and Marrar's suprise loss to East Wagga-Kooringal last Saturday.
"I was very surprised but I've talked to a few blokes from East Wagga and hopefully we can do the same thing," Gerhard said.
The Hawks got on top in the middle and prevented Marrar from controlling the tempo.
In the elimination final on Sunday, Temora took control from the outset against Coleambally.
"I think last week (for Temora) was probably the best our forward line has worked with Jacob Turner, Matt Harpley, Jase Reid, Jake Wooden all kicking goals, rather than relying on Harps or Turns to kick four or five," Gerhard said.
"The more we can share it around, the better.
"And our tackling pressure. We were a bit worried about how Coleambally could play on the outside with Curtis Steele and Luke Hillier.
"But we matched them with toughness on the inside and were able to beat them on the outside."
Temora named an unchanged team, but with Lachie Pellow on an extended four-man bench.
They'll train on Friday night. Pellow hasn't played since injuring a hamstring in their 101-point win against the Northern Jets last month. He did the warm-up ahead of last week's game against Coleambally but didn't come in.
Gerhard said the Roos love the Maher Oval atmosphere, where they've enjoyed plenty of success as a club in finals.
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