Diamond Creek senior men’s coach Andrew Tranquilli says his side is doing everything possible to get themselves prepared for this weekend’s highly anticipated MC Labour Division 2 Grand Final.
After securing the minor premiership in the home and away campaign, the Creekers locked in a spot in the decider following a comfortable preliminary final victory over St Mary’s, proving to be the perfect response to their 25-point second semi-final loss a fortnight ago to their Saturday opponents in Eltham.
It’s an opportunity for the club to claim their first senior men’s premiership since 2005, while the Under 19.5’s side are also searching for a piece of silverware when they face South Morang in their Grand Final on Saturday morning.
Senior men’s coach Andrew Tranquilli discussed the playing group’s emotions heading into their first decider since 2017.
“I believe they’re excited and nervous at the same time,” he said.
“It’s the nervous part of insuring to get there which I think chews up a lot of the emotional side of it. I think everyone’s excited and we’re ready to put our best foot forward.”
Their loss to the Panthers two weeks ago was just Diamond Creek’s second defeat of the 2023 season, but Tranquilli stressed that credit had to be given to the opposition that day for their ability to take the game away from the minor premiers.
“With a side like Eltham, you give them that opportunity to put a little bit of scoreboard pressure on they’re going be very hard to catch,” he said.
“I think the way we came back in the second half showed what our best is all about, and to Eltham’s credit they were just better for longer”.
And with that in mind, Tranquilli highlighted the key areas of the match he believes his side needs to get right in order to turn the tables on the Panthers this weekend.
“We’ll focus on trying to win as many 50/50 moments which are pretty important in a Grand Final let alone when you’re playing a side like Eltham. So, the more 50/50 moments you can win, it’s only going be beneficial,” he said.
“We know that they’re pretty well stocked up with a good midfield, and a good ruck, they’ve got weapons all over the ground.”
“I think it’ll just come down to the 50/50 moments and there will be plenty of those and if we can make sure we win more than them and capitalise on those well then, I think we’ll be in a good position to probably have some scoreboard dominance”.
One of the biggest decisions Tranquilli will have to make before the Grand Final will be the selection of the side, with so many names available to pick from.
Star players Jacob Booth and Tarwan Rennie missed the Creekers 47-point preliminary final win against St Mary’s, but Tranquilli extinguished any doubt about their inclusion this weekend.
“They could’ve played on the weekend, but we just felt it was the right call to make sure the body that we’re 100 percent ready to go. It was a gamble, but I think the gamble paid off as they’re very important those two boys,” he said.
“They did the fitness test (last Thursday heading into last week’s Preliminary Final) and if it was the Grand Final, they would’ve passed, so a week off at the most has only helped them get fitter and stronger.”
Footscray VFL listed talent Ewan MacPherson will also be available for selection after the Bulldogs’ finals campaign came to an end last week, while the end of Diamond Creek’s reserves’ season on the same weekend makes picking the final side an incredibly difficult task for Tranquilli.
“The unfortunate part of this time of year we’ve played 43 players this year at senior level,” he said.
“It will be a tough week this week when it comes to selection there’s no doubt about that, because in everyone’s right, everyone has a case to put forward as to why they should be selected”.
“At the end of the day we can only pick 22 and we’ve got to find the 22 that we think’s going be the right to take on Eltham”.
Tranquilli, already a premiership coach with Doncaster East in the EFNL, reflected on the club’s turnaround from 12 months ago, when they went down to Eltham in a tight preliminary final loss.
He detailed how the playing group’s dedication to the goal of a premiership and their determination to get better each week, has put themselves in the best position to claim the flag on Saturday.
“We knew what it took to get here it started all the way back in November last year,” he said.
“Eltham beat us in the prelim by a goal or so last year. We’ve learnt a lot, and we’ve prepared a lot, so I would say that we’re going into this week very prepared.”
