The Calder Cannons won’t take any risks in the final round of the season as they prepare for the TAC Cup finals.
With a top-two spot secured, the Cannons have taken the opportunity to rest players in recent weeks.
When the Cannons travelled to Horsham on Sunday to take on the North Ballarat Rebels, almost a quarter of their normal team didn’t make the trip.
But coach Andrew Jago said Calder would select its best side entering the final round.
“We still have at least five or six players who didn’t play, so it will make selection hard for us,” Jago said. “Paul Ahern, Touk Miller, Ben Allan, Aaron Christensen and Hisham Kerbatieh didn’t play [on Sunday].
“Making it harder, we have players like Luke Ryan who are playing well and trying to keep their spot. But we won’t be taking any risks with the players and will manage things.”
The absence of key players had little effect on Sunday, with the Cannons defeating the Rebels, 12.18 (90) to 10.11 (71).
“It was a fairly scrappy game,” Jago said.
“There was a fair amount of pressure from them in the first half, and we wore them down in the second half.
“The result made it look closer than it was … we weren’t able to take the most of our opportunities.”
Jago said the game was similar to the match-up between the two clubs earlier in the season.
“It was heavily contested footy, and they were winning that early in the game.
“When we played them earlier in the year, it was the same thing. But both times we have finished on the right side of ledger.’’
Reilly O’Brien was best on ground for the Cannons, while Jack James was also a standout.
Jago said the Cannons still had a lot to work on before finals. “We made a lot of mistakes with the ball. We will work on that.”
The Cannons are second on the ladder heading into the final round, one game behind the Oakleigh Chargers.
Calder will take on the Northern Knights, who will miss the finals, at Preston City Oval on Saturday.
Who they will face in the first week of the finals has yet to be determined.
“We can’t control where and who we will play,’’ Jago said.
‘‘The teams from third to seventh are all on the same amount of points. We will just get our best side out onto the park.”
