Sport
21 August, 2024
Minor premiership on the line as Rats face local rivals | WFNL round 18
Ararat need to win and a SMT loss to claim the minor premiership.
WFNL
Football
Despite being disappointed with the round 17 WFNL draw with Nhill, Rats co-coach Tom Mills says his side is focused on the final round of the regular season on Saturday, August 24.
Ararat hosts local rivals the Stawell Warriors at Alexandra Oval.
"It's hard to tell, you can't really go off the last game [Good Friday]," Mills said.
"It is the previous form for both teams [that you can look at]."
While the Rats drew at Davis, the Warriors lost to Southern Mallee by 61 points.
"I'll watch some of their clips, and Tom [Williamson] will. I'll just try to identify some of the key areas we need to focus on to stop them and maybe think of ways they might think of stopping us," he said.
Despite the Warriors' strong back six, Mills believes his side's forward line matches up well.
"We've just got to try and stretch them... if early on, we can get the game on our terms, then they worry about us a bit more than setting up their team is probably what we want," he said.
Mills credited the form of midfielder Ben Taylor, whilst James Jennings has returned in recent weeks after missing close to half the season.
"He gets a role [in defence] each week, and he doesn't often lose his one-on-one battle," he said of Jennings.
"It's just a reliable key defender to have back there; you don't have to worry once the game starts."
Warriors senior coach Tom Eckel sees coming up against the two top sides as a positive.
"It's probably what you want, really," he said.
Cody Driscoll kicked two goals in the defeat to the Thunder at Central Park and enters the last round of the regular season two goals behind Tom Williamson with 51 majors.
In other matches, the Thunder host Horsham at Beulah Memorial Park.
The Burras face Dimboola at Murtoa Recreation Reserve, and Nhill travels to Coughlin Park to play Horsham Saints.