Rowe looks for Goannas response in finals after hitting "rock bottom"

The Goannas have limped into the AFL Riverina Championship finals after three straight losses, all to top four rivals, with Rowe attacking their lack of effort after last week's 49-point loss to Leeton-Whitton.

But Rowe remains optimistic they can find the spark when it matters against the in-form Lions at Robertson Oval.

"I suppose on the weekend it did have a feeling at different stages that we'd probably hit rock bottom, and we definitely acknowledged that," he said.

"It was probably the first time over the last couple of years (I've been coach) that our energy and effort has been pulled into question.

"That was conveyed in no uncertain terms, and that was absorbed and accepted by the players. But what's really pleased me since is there's been a lot of players reaching out to myself or others on the coaching staff proactively looking for feedback.

"What that tells me is our group is still in the fight and wants to be better, and while we have that I'll be optimistic we can turn it around. I do have confidence in the group, despite the last three weeks."

"We've already dealt fairly harshly with how we played on the weekend, now we've got a clean slate and are ready to move forward."

The main question for the coaching staff now is whether to back out-of-form quality players who have stepped up on big stages before, or bring in others banging down the door for an opportunity.

The Goannas' reserve grade team finished second and will play Wagga Tigers for a grand final spot on Sunday.

"The one thing I'll say is we've got some really big decisions to make this week. There's no doubt a large portion of our side haven't been in their best form, and some of those guys we rate really highly," Rowe said.

"We've got big decisions on whether we back guys who you know what they are capable of, or you turn things over and bring in guys who are hungry and have been starved of opportunities.

"I'm still unsure what path we'll go down, and it's not that we're confused we genuinely have some difficult decisions to make and they have to be assessed on a number of different angles.

"On the weekend it was as close to structurally sound as we've been. We could see the players executing with ball movement, we just didn't bring enough energy to the table and off the back of that our skill level was substandard to say the least.

"There's things you expect just to be there in a first grade game of footy and that was disappointing, but that's been conveyed and the only way is up.

"Going into a finals series off the back of three losses is far from ideal, but at the end of the day Ganmain don't get a head start this week because they've been playing better footy than us. We'll start even on Sunday and everyone has as big a chance as everyone to progress."

Rowe said key forward Trent Castles will return to the line-up after he was unavailable last week.

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