Macleod is determined to redeem itself in this year’s Meadows Greyhounds Division 1 grand final after falling short in the past two premiership deciders.
The minor premier took the short route to its fourth successive grand final after downing North Heidelberg by 13 points in the second semi a fortnight ago.
Outgoing Macleod coach Garry Ramsay has been impressed with his side’s resilience throughout 2018 following two consecutive grand final defeats but knows only one result will satisfy the club on Saturday.
“After a heartbreaking loss last year, I think they’ve been fantastic and have shown a lot of guts and a lot of courage to get themselves in this position again,” Ramsay told The Northerner.
“It probably would’ve been easy to fade away, but they’ve shown a lot of courage to put in the time and put in the effort to come back and I am nothing but proud and full of admiration for the playing list.
“Ultimately, the whole focus is on this week. Everything is about this game and winning on Saturday.”
Macleod will be playing just its second match in four weeks after obtaining a break in the opening week of the finals by claiming the minor premiership, before securing another week off by winning the second semi.
The Roos have been in this position in each of the past two years. After winning the 2015 grand final over Greensborough, they went down to Heidelberg in the 2016 decider, before falling to Bundoora by three points last year.
Ramsay is aware of the advantages and disadvantages that come with the breaks, however he is adamant his side’s fortunes will come down to what they produce in the two hours on grand final day
“We’ve lost twice in this position, but it doesn’t mean the week off is good or bad, it just means we’ve been bad on the day. We need to get it right on Saturday,” he said.
“We’ve done a few things differently this year, but I think we’ve had to. We haven’t gotten the job done in previous years, so we’ve changed up a fair few things in our preparation to give us the best chance on Saturday.”
Macleod has won 17 of 19 matches this year and has been victorious in its previous five matches. However, the most recent loss was at the hands of its grand final opponent, West Preston-Lakeside, in a 16-point result at De Winton Park in Round 14.
While he is aware of what West Preston-Lakeside can bring to the table, Ramsay is focused on improving his own side in order to be best prepared for the decider.
“We have to be better at contested football and that will be one of our main focuses for the week,” he said.
“It’s an area that we’ve been trying to work on and improve on all year so that will be a real focus of ours on Saturday.”
Macleod will sweat on the availability of some of its stars for the premiership decider. Forward Nick Lynch and ruckman Chris Long were absent from the second semi final victory, while Lucas Hobbs is fighting to be fit after suffering a hamstring injury.
Ramsay is keeping his options open but will ultimately select the 22 he believes will give Macleod the best chance of winning.
“There’s a few that will have to get through training this week, so when they do we’ll know more,” he said.
“But we definitely haven’t finalised anything. It will depend on the fitness of those guys that’s for sure.”
Saturday’s grand final will be Ramsay’s final match as coach of Macleod after six seasons at the helm.
Ramsay has been instrumental in transforming the Roos into a dominant force in Meadows Greyhounds Division 1 – taking the club to five consecutive finals campaigns, including the 2015 premiership.
Ramsay praised the club for what it had given him and said he was honoured to have played a role in teaching his players not just lessons in football, but also in life.
“I’m extremely proud of this playing list. A lot of these players have been there the whole time I have been and what they’ve become has been amazing,” he said.
“While I’m always proud of their footy, I am extremely proud of their achievements off the field as well and the club has been a real positive difference to my life as well.
“I’ll forever be grateful for the positive influence they’ve had on me and my family and I could not speak highly enough of this playing group.”
