The next 80 minutes of action, not the last, is all that matters for the Werribee Bears.
The Bears were outplayed 36-6 by the North West Wolves in the last game of the Victorian Rugby League first grade regular season at AJ Davis Reserve on Saturday.
But the two sides will square off again in a cut-throat semi-final on neutral turf at Fregon Reserve in Clayton this Saturday.
“Today didn’t mean much; it all comes down to next week’s game,” Bears coach Aaron Tiananga said.
“It was a bit of a tough one, but a lot of the boys in our first grade were out injured and we had to bring up quite a few of our boys from the reserve grade to fill their spots.
“We get to play them again next week with our full-strength team.”
It will be a historic occasion for the Bears, featuring in the first grade finals for the first time in the club’s short four-year history.
The Bears’ previous greatest success came in their inaugural season, when they went on to hoist the second division premiership.
This achievement goes into a whole other stratosphere.
“It’s a big thing for the club; it’s history in the making for us.”
“Back in 2009, when the club was established, our second division team won the premiership, but to have a team in the first grade make it to the finals is a first for us,” Tiananga said.
“We can take it to the big guns now and it’s given us a big name in the VRL.”
The Bears go into the finals riding a wave of confidence.
The latest hiccup aside, they have been one of the form sides of the competition, defeating the Wolves, Altona Roosters and Doveton Steelers to reach the finals.
“If we keep playing like that I’m highly confident we can beat the Wolves,” Tiananga said.
The Bears’ greatest strength lies in their evenness across the board. The tight-knit group has dubbed itself “the brotherhood”.
They are also blessed with some match-winners in the form of captain James Te Whata, full-back Phillip Pese and second rower Latham Harris-Pont.
Te Whata, a foundation member of the Bears, is a respected figure at the club for ability to lead by example on the field.
“He commands his players out there with good leadership,’’ Tiananga said, “and he’s one of the best defenders in the VRL.”
Pese is the excitement machine of the Bears on the last line.
“He’s a devastating attacker,” Tiananga said. “He dissects the defenders when retrieving the ball from the full-back position, like a little Billy Slater.”
Harris-Pont is the man Tiananga feels could tear the finals apart with his barnstorming runs on the left side. “He’s going from strength to strength every game and in a tough semi-final, I reckon he’ll step it up even more.”
