Thomas Ingleton
Greenvale’s season is still alive after a fantastic outing against Aberfeldie in the final round of the Essendon District Football League premier division.
The crucial win earned the Jets a finals berth and set up an exciting rematch, as they take on Aberfeldie in Sunday’s elimination final.
Jets coach Darren Bewick said the side is raring to go and keen to test themselves against one of the top sides in the competition.
“We’re genuinely excited about the prospect of playing finals, we haven’t been here for a while now so it’s been a few years,” he said.
“So to finally get there, it’s a bit of a relief from a coaching perspective but there’s some real excitement around the place.
“Aberfeldie are one of the better teams and we played them last week, but finals is a completely different story.”
Bewick said it has been a rewarding season for the players and he was pleased with the buy-in of the coaches’ messaging from all the Jets players.
“A few of our VFL [Victorian Football League] boys have really bought into what we’re trying to do and really add to the group,” he said.
“We lost players throughout the middle part of the year, and we were able to play a lot of younger players like John Keratianos on the wing. Jason Kenneth, Will Madden, Ryan Townsend and Jarryd Bonello have been good for us throughout the year.”
Bewick said while the focus is on getting through a very good Aberfeldie side, if they’re lucky enough to progress through the finals they believe they can beat any side at their best.
“Abers is our main focus at the moment and obviously Keilor have shown over the last few years that they have been a fantastic club which are very well drilled by Mick [McGuane],” he said.
“But they did show a few weeks ago they are beatable which would give everyone in the competition a bit of confidence I would imagine.”
Bewick believes when it comes to finals preparation there is no need to spring any surprises on the players and wants to keep everything pre game as normal as possible.
“The players know if they need any advice on any preparation they can ask,” he said.
“Obviously the intensity and the importance of the final is higher, our expectation from us to the players is that they have to lift all aspects of the game as well.
“But I think we’re ready to play and we are really looking forward to testing ourselves against Aberfeldie on Sunday afternoon.”
