Grand final fever is back at Hoppers Crossing for the first time since 2006.
The Warriors have a chance at their first WRFL division 1 flag in 12 years, after moving through to the big one after a nine-point win over Altona in an arm-wrestling preliminary final at Avalon Airport Oval on Saturday.
No-one in their right mind gives the Warriors much chance when they step onto the Whitten Oval on Sunday against a mighty Deer Park gunning for a fourth premiership in a row.
The young Warriors will need to seize the moment. They have a nothing to lose mentality as the challengers.
The pressure is all on Deer Park to deliver – and the weight of history is against them, as no side has ever achieved a four-peat yet in the competition’s history.
Warriors’ coach Steven Kretiuk has given a tick to his players for going one better than last year’s preliminary final appearance and reaching the grand final. Kretiuk’s task now is to make sure the Warriors did not mentally put in a finals effort last Saturday.
“We’ve taken the next step each year over the last three years,” Kretiuk told Star Weekly.
“It’s a great achievement for the boys to reach the grand final and I’m rapt because they’ve put in a lot of hard work, and to finally get there is a great reward for them.”
Hoppers Crossing has embraced its underdog tag, but it has no choice, really. The Warriors have lost all three games to Deer Park this season by an average of 56 points, and now face a Lions’ side that has played in the past two division 1 grand finals, racked up 86 scoring shots and hold an average winning margin of 106.5 points.
“We know where we sit,” Kretiuk said.
“They’re the premier team in the competition; they would be the premier team in a number of suburban competitions, in my eyes.
“Deer Park are the benchmark … but we’ll deal with it on game day, and during the week try and throw a couple of little left-of-centre things their way and, hopefully, on the big stage we can deliver.”
Hoppers Crossing could not have asked for a better lead-up game ahead of a grand final.
Altona pushed them right to the line, but the Warriors held their ground.
Braden Ferrari was one of the keys for the Warriors, shutting the dangerous Mitch Turnbull out of the game.
Ryan Kitchen was dominant in the midfield, while Daniel Riosa and Jackson Viola booted three goals apiece.
