Tigers’ fresh legs deny Brumbies direct entry

Baldivis Football Club’s quest to retain the Peel Football League premiership took a hit last Sunday, after the Pinjarra Tigers secured a grand final berth with a 31-point victory at Sir Ross McLarty Oval.

The Brumbies 8.6 (54) were competitive early on but were undone by a fresher Tigers 12.13 (84) outfit in the semifinal clash.

Despite the loss, Baldivis’ hopes of making the grand final are still alive, with the defending premiers looking to cash in their second chance with a huge preliminary final clash against Waroona this weekend.

Coach Craig Hamersley said while his team did enough in the first half, there were still some structural changes they wanted to get right for the second half before the well-rested Tigers began to edge away.

“We kicked a couple back in the last quarter and at one stage had a bit of a late surge,” he said.

“In saying that we rolled the dice in the last quarter to try and peg it back and it became a bit of a shootout.

“There was a lot that went wrong and it makes it hard to decipher what was tired legs and what was structural problems, so that’s something we need to go through during the week and really break down.

“We’ll change a few things on our end to make sure the bodies are definitely cherry ripe for Waroona this weekend.”

During the match Hamerlsey said Dan Griffin did a fine job at full-back on Pinjarra’s Mitch Brown, while Stephen Tudor also had a solid afternoon matching up on Joel O’Driscoll.

Luke Robinson was the leading scorer for Baldivis in the defeat, he kicking four goals.

The Brumbies will face Waroona this Saturday at a venue yet to be determined.

Baldivis’ reserves finished the weekend on a brighter note, booking their place in a grand final with a 12-point win over South Mandurah.

Meanwhile, the Rockingham Rams colts’ 4.5 (29) season came to an end after they were comprehensively beaten by South Mandurah 12.8 (80) in their semifinal.