Lions flag winner Carroll to coach the rivals on grand final reunion day

As a proud member of Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong's flags in 1991-92 he will catch up with old mates at Saturday's reunion.

But before a few beers and old stories are shared, the man they call 'Curl' will spearhead the rivals in the top-of-the-table blockbuster at Ganmain Sportsground.

"It is a little bit funny I suppose, Ganmain's my home town and I grew up there my whole life," Carroll said.

"They're a fantastic football club and it's going to be a bit funny, but it is what it is. We'll go out there and have a crack, it's always a big rivalry game between the two towns and we'll think about the reunion after that.

"All you can do is laugh at it a bit. I'm not sure how I get around it but I'm a Coolamon guy now, that's my priority and I'll put my heart and soul into that.

"We're only 10-15km apart and hopefully it's a really good game and a big crowd."

The Lions beat Griffith in the 1991 grand final and Turvey Park in a one-point thriller the year after. Carroll said the team was tight-knit and all born and bred in the area.

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"The good thing about those couple of years was we were all local boys, and there was three or four different sets of brothers," Carroll said.

"If someone did something on the field we knew what they would do because we played so much footy together, it was basically the same 20-odd players in both those teams.

"At Coolamon today that's probably our strength at the moment, we're really close. We haven't got any recruits, they're all local boys from around there and that's a good thing."

The Hoppers won five of six games before last week's bye, but most feel they're still idling in second gear and have much more improvement left in them.

They've played enough good football in patches to win games, with their only loss a one-goal defeat to unbeaten Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes in round four.

"That's the nail on the head, we haven't played nowhere near four quarters yet and have a lot of improvement left," Carroll said.

"We're ticking the boxes and getting those wins on the board, but we have to start staying in games for longer, and playing longer periods.

We're only a third of the way through the year and the plan is to peak towards the end. To be 5-1 isn't a bad spot. but we've definitely got to be improving.

"Ganmain (6-1) have been playing some fantastic footy and winning pretty easily, to be honest. They play their home ground really well and it's a challenge we're looking forward to."

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