Al Hasan hopeful to return to grand final day festivities with a win over Tolland

Joining the club in 2019 as an under 16s player, Al Hasan has worked his way up into the first grade side and is now a staple in their starting 11.

"I've made it to the grand final every single year since I've been here, so hopefully I'll make it this year as well," Al Hasan said.

Preparing for Sunday's preliminary final against Tolland, Al Hasan said it was disappointing to lose to Hanwood last weekend, but the team was quick to regroup.

"It was very very very disappointing last week, especially for me, I got very disappointed, I hate losing," he said.

"After the game we had a chat, all the players, and we're getting ready for the next game.

"Every game we are improving, so many players are new, it's our first year playing together, so every single game we are improving together."

With a wealth of young players stepping into the team this season, Al Hasan said the side has hit the magic combination of youth and experience.

MORE LOCAL SPORT NEWS

"We've got heaps of new players this year, so hopefully we can do something good, it's been a big year for us, I'm hoping to win this year," he said.

"It's working great to be honest, the experience is there when one of the young guys makes a mistake, or they get mad, the experienced players they get them calmed and talk to them quickly.

"It's a great combination, it's working very good so far.

"A lot of the young players I played with at under 16s, so I know a lot of them as well, so we have chemistry, it's great."

With plenty of experience in these late finals games, he's confident the side will hold up well, pinpointing composure as their biggest asset.

Pleased with how they adjusted their play for their second game against Tolland, Al Hasan felt his team did well to address their weaknesses following the round five loss.

"We were 1-0 down, we tried to rush through it, so we need to play our style, we don't need to make it complicated, the simpler we make it, the better it is.

"The first time we played Tolland, we made it complicated, we didn't do a lot of passes, everyone was trying to take on a lot of players and score, but the second time we played we won, it was beautiful football from us.

"It was one-twos, simple passing, if we do that again, we will win again."

Knowing there are no easy games in finals, Al Hasan said they won't take anything for granted and will need to play well to get a win.

Though expecting a challenge, he's confident he'll be back at Equex Centre on grand final day.

"Hopefully next week we'll win the grand final as well," he said.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: