GSFL 2025: Railways player-coach Bodhi Stubber hopes to finish top season with fairytale premiership victory

Railways have only one box left to tick to complete a near-fairytale season, with player-coach Bodhi Stubber believing they are up for the challenge reigning premiers Albany pose. Apart from Logan Stubber, who is a confirmed omission with a heartbreaking knee injury, Bodhi Stubber is keeping his cards close to his chest as to who he will send in to battle the Sharks in the Great Southern Football League’s 2025 grand final on Saturday. “I think the best thing that’s happened this year is obviously our depth,” he said. “At the moment, they’re still probably 25-26 players that could possibly go into the 22, which is a really good thing. “I think, in years gone by, with someone like Logan that’s done an injury, we’ve probably tried to strap him up and push him through the game, but we’ve got the luxury of having a good depth of fit players.” A devastating third serious knee injury will cost Logan Stubber a chance at another premiership medal but the Tigers will regain youngster Lachie Cale into the midfield. Rucks Billy O’Meara and Shane Braimbridge are both likely choices to take on Kleemann medallist Bailey Taylor, while the impact of former AFL player Brett Peake will be neutralised by a “stable back six”. The threats posed by ball winners such as Morgan Davies and Isaac Baum will be countered by a “full team effort”. “It’s obviously, really hard to stop them as they’re probably really good big game players, and they’ve been been doing it for a long time,” he said. “So I guess I think it’s more about a team defence, team structure. “If we can put enough pressure on as a whole team, I believe that we can nullify them a little bit.” The Tigers are playing in their third grand final in five years, and having lost their last appearance to the Sharks — who are also responsible for the only blemish on an otherwise perfect season — hope to get their own back. “Sharks being the only team to beat us, we were probably off our game a lot that day. “The boys have been very level headed, and they know that we’ve done a lot of hard work, but it doesn’t mean for much unless we show up on Saturday.” With the showdown set for the Tigers’ newly refurbished home ground, Keep The Sheep Stadium, Bodhi Stubber is looking forward to good vibes coming from the sidelines. He hopes the presence of two other Tigers’ teams playing their grand finals earlier in the day will help momentum roll in the club’s favour. “Everyone is really excited, we don’t often get to play a grand final at home,” he said. “I’ve been telling the boys that this week’s not about all all nerves and being worried; it’s about excitement and that this is why we play footy. “We’ve done 95 per cent of the season as we wanted and we’ve just got to finish it off with the last five.”