Football
12 September, 2025
Scene set for footy prelim
The scene has been set for a cracker of a preliminary final between Ararat and Nhill this Saturday.
The sides finished first and second respectively on the ladder after the regular season, but it was the Thunder, who originally finished third, who were first to book their place in the Wimmera Football Netball League senior grand final.
Ararat were defeated by Southern Mallee last week, 11.7 (73) to 11.14 (80), while Nhill earned their place in the preliminary by defeating Dimboola 10.7 (67) to 9.9 (63).
As last week's second semi-final showed, results during the regular season can go out the window once it's finals time and Nhill will certainly be aiming to demonstrate this as they lost both of their games during the year to the Rats.
The first time the sides met was on June 21, with Ararat travelling to Davis Park for the hitout and heading home with the win 18.7 (115) to 8.9 (57).
Ararat then hosted Nhill on August 23 and again recorded a dominating win, 15.15 (105) to 7.7 (49).
But Kieran Delahunty's side were able to expose Ararat last week to get a win, and this week Nhill will be looking to knock Ararat out of contention for the premiership in straight succession.
Ararat co-coach Tom Mills said the team were highly motivated following their tough loss against the Thunder.
"Obviously losing our first game for the season hurts a bit, especially when it's in a final," Mills said.
"It should make the group a lot hungrier considering what's on the line this weekend."
The two-time premiership Rat emphasised that individual player responses to each contest would be critical to the team's success, given the key matchups across the park.
"It comes down to composure with the ball in hand and making the most of your opportunities," Mills said.
"I think for us, we just need to look at what we have done most of the year: have good skills, bring pressure to the contest and play as a team."
Mills indicated potential team changes for the week pending the results of several fitness tests.
At the other end of the WFNL, co-coach of Nhill, Trevor Ryan, said the club and his side were absolutely rapt to be able to get the opportunity to play in a preliminary final.
"It's been a long time for the club to get that deep into finals for footy so we are looking forward to the contest against Ararat, who no doubt won't be easy and after their loss will be looking to rebound," Ryan said.
"It'll be a challenge."
Ryan said the side would take confidence into the game after Ararat experienced their first loss of the season last week, showing that they could be toppled.
"We are definitely going into the game with that belief that we can play a certain way to put enough pressure on the opposition and hopefully it makes a difference in the result," he said.
The co-coach said the game would be lost and won around the contest, as it was last week in the game between Dimboola and Nhill.
He said it was contested footy, and hopefully Nhill could get enough opportunities forward of the middle to allow them the chance to score.
Reflecting on the couple of times Ararat and Nhill had played this season, Ryan said they had hopefully learned from their mistakes.
"We need to maintain possession of the footy a bit longer than we have in those couple of games," Ryan said.
"We seem to have just kicked it down the line too many times and they've put numbers to the ball and once they get it in their hands, it's hard to keep it off them.
"We'll be focusing on maintaining possession for as long as we can."
Ryan said he expected to take a full-strength side into the clash, adding that they had been lucky with injuries.
"We've got most of our list available for selection," he said.
"It's going to be a matter of players matching up on certain players."