The equation for the Tumut Bulls is simple for their finals clash with Wagga Agricultural College (Aggies) in Wagga tomorrow, win and remain in the finals race, lose and the season’s over.
The Bulls are as ready as they will ever be, mentally and physically, boosted by their strong performance against Wagga City last Saturday.
“The biggest thing is our attitude; it was a lot better at the weekend,” Bulls coach Jon Carmody said.
“We knew it had to be a lot better than it had been. We had to start aiming up and playing football or the season was done. The pressure helped.”
The Bulls are where they need to be in body and mind at this crucial time.
“We trained well on Tuesday night and everyone was focused,” Carmody said.
“They realise the importance of the match.”
He said the Bulls need to play their own game tomorrow.
“We need to retain possession and and make sure in defence we make our one-on-one tackles and keep the defensive line strong.”
He said the players were feeling very confident.
“We stuck it to Wagga City and have played a great couple of games, and we can go up a couple of notches. We’re starting to really hit form and we’ve been fairly lucky with injury compared to a couple of other clubs.”
The first grade side to contest tomorrow’s finals match will be very similar to that which faced Wagga City last Saturday, but with the addition of Jamie Weston, who was unavailable last week, and TJ Sala, who was out with injury.
The first grade side won’t be alone, with the second grade and Bullettes sides also playing finals matches there tomorrow.
The second grade side faces Reddies in another sudden-death elimination final Tumut and Reddies won one game each against each other this season, so there should be little in it.
“Hopefully we can get up again,” Tumut coach Aidan Thomas said.
“Hopefully we get numbers to training tonight and have a good training and go from there.”
The Bullettes are taking on Aggies in their final, and again this is set to be a close game.
“We do realise it’s going to be a hard game, so we have to make sure we watch the games we have played against them previously,” Bullettes coach Kylie Jensen said.
The Bullettes prevailed in both these matches, but only very narrowly, and expected Aggies to lift for the occasion.
The coach and players are well aware of the importance of tomorrow’s game.
“We are getting the numbers to training,” Jensen said.
The Bullettes will be at full strength.
“We will have a full side. Everybody is back and we should have plenty of subs. Everyone is physically fit.”
