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THE FINAL WORD BY PETER CORNWALLL
SANFL finals coaches, Sturt’s Martin Mattner, the Eagles’ Sam Jacobs, Norwood’s Jade Rawlings, Paul Thomas (Central) and Darren Reeves (Glenelg) at Adelaide Oval this week. Photo: Peter Argent How’s the talent and presence among this group of SANFL mentors? Three of them – Martin Mattner (2016-17), Jade Rawlings (2022) and Darren Reeves (last season) – are premiership coaches, Paul Thomas is a four-time premiership captain who as coach has the Bulldogs playing finals for the second successive year, while former Crows ruck great Sam Jacobs has lifted the Eagles back into the major round in his first year in charge. Now, while minor premier Norwood takes a well-earned week’s break, it’s getting serious. Reigning premier Glenelg will face the Eagles in the elimination final before Sturt battles Central in the qualifying final in Sunday’s mouthwatering double-header at Adelaide Oval. Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, Magarey Medallist Harry Grant suffered a fractured jaw and concussion in the final minor round and Thomas conceded it would take a “minor miracle” for his gun midfielder to play at any stage in the finals. But he remains positive. “We have a lot of midfield depth across recruiting over a period of time,” he said. Here’s a quick grab of
what the coaches said at this week’s finals launch. JADE RAWLINGS We have a group who are hungry, bought in, got fit, believe in what we do … you get a bit of momentum in any footy competition and it can be pretty powerful … they like playing together, this group, and I love watching them play. We are fortunate as a club we have reserves and senior teams in position to see how far we can go in September – it’s where you want to be. MARTIN MATTNER It’s a tough competition at the moment, it’s hard to tell if we are better placed than last year (when the Blues lost the grand final to Glenelg) but what I know is, we love finals, we love playing finals, Sturt Footy Club, and we’re looking forward to Sunday. PAUL THOMAS We are much better placed (than last year when the Bulldogs only qualified for finals in the last week of the minor round, then played in the elimination final), I think history shows it is pretty hard to come
from fourth or fifth to win it, so we are in the top three – it’s where we set out to be from November, now it’s up to our players to go out and have a crack and play the way we want to. DARREN REEVES It’s been the story of our year, just up and down, but what we know is our best is pretty good … in the past month against Norwood and then against last weekend (against South) it was pretty good and at times against North and Central we played some good footy, it’s just been the inability to do that for four quarters, that’s our challenge. We have great respect for what the Eagles are able to do and we will have to be at our best. SAM JACOBS I’m really confident our best is good enough to compete and we’ve shown that through the most part of the year. Early in the year we proved it – playing against Norwood and Sturt away we were able to get the job done. We’re confident if we play the way we want we can match Glenelg. We look forward to the challenge. sanfl.com.au
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