A SPOT in the Elders Cup grand final is up for grabs when Tumut Plains take on Wyangle at the Bull Paddock on Saturday.
The winner advances to the grand final against Coolac the following week and it’s curtains for the loser for the 2024-25 season.
Tumut Plains deserve favouritism with their minor premier status and dominance of Wyangle this season, but Wyangle are finding form at the right time and will carry confidence from their minor semi-final win into the match.
Wyangle’s Dave Shedden says the team have been training well.
“We are close to full strength with Tom Boxall coming back into the team however, Ronan Butler will be missing due to work commitments,” he said.
He knows taking on Tumut Plains is a tough task.
“Tumut Plains will come out hard early and try and put us away with their power game as they have the troops to do it and that’s what they have done on both occasions that we have met this season,” Shedden said.
“I think that we have got to try and stay in the fight for as long as we can on Saturday, concentrate on getting our game right and hope that it might cause the Plains boys to make some mistakes, and if they do then we need to capitalize on them straight away, like holding onto any chances that come our way.”
He said the Wyangle players will definitely be feeling the momentum of last week’s win.
“No doubt our skipper Ryan Bulger will use that in his pre-game address to the side but at the end of the day we know that we will need to lift to another level again against Tumut Plains and hope for a little bit of luck on Saturday,” he said.
He believes Tumut Plains, after coming off a defeat against Coolac in last week’s major semi won’t be complacent on Saturday.
“But they will carry the burden of favouritism into the game where on the other hand Wyangle can take a more relaxed attitude of underdog approach into the game,” he said.
“In our case, come Saturday I think it will be a case of dare to dream.”
Tumut Plains’ Luke Armstrong, who hit a half-century in the major-semi-final loss last week, said Plains should be at full strength.
“We’ll have Dusty Hood back, which means someone from last week will probably miss out,” he said.
He doesn’t think favouritism will be a burden for the team. “We were probably favourites last week too, but favouritism gets pushed aside at this time of year,” he said.
“We just didn’t hit enough runs last week and we need to fix that up this time.”
