1 day Ago By Brent Godde
Holbrook will have to turn around a damning statistic to claim a second premiership in three years in the grand final against Osborne at Walbundrie on Saturday. or signup to continue reading The Tigers with 16 flags are the most successful club in Hume league history. Eleven times the Tigers have finished minor premiers and gone on to win the flag on nine occasions.
In 1988 they finished on top of the ladder, only to lose the grand final to East Lavington. The Brookers will be buoyed by the knowledge that they are the only other club to inflict grand final heartache on Osborne who finished minor premier in 2022 but stumbled at the final hurdle. And rival coaches are predicting history could repeat in Saturday's decider.
Six out of the eight coaches polled by The Border Mail predicted the Brookers can cause an upset in the grand final and roll the Tigers who have only lost one match all season. The Brookers inflicted the Tigers' only defeat by nine points in round 5. The two sides produced the match of the season so far in round 16 after some last-quarter heroics by Connor Galvin dragged the Tigers over the line by two points.
The Tigers then took the direct route into the decider after prevailing by two goals in the second semi-final. Tigers coach Myles Aalbers said he wasn't surprised to hear that most of the coaches were firmly in the corner of the Brookers after their ultra-impressive 98-point spanking of CDHBU in the preliminary final. "I'm not really surprised most coaches are tipping the Brookers," Aalbers said.
"The Brookers looked nice and fresh to me in the preliminary final and obviously CDHBU looked flat...
but you have to make teams go flat. "I think Holbrook started well and kicked five or six goals in every quarter. "So we know Holbrook can score heavily and once they get the momentum they are very hard to stop.
"We are aware of that and hopefully we can stop that the best we can on Saturday." So does that mean Aalbers is claiming the underdog tag despite heading into the grand final as minor premiers and only losing one match all season? "I would say it is a 50-50 contest, I would have thought," he said. "They have obviously beaten us this year and we have beaten them twice.
"But it's a grand final and anything can happen. "So our mindset is we just have to stick to our process, do the little things well and hopefully the scoreboard ticks in our favour." Aalbers is fully aware the Tigers will have to raise the bar on their second semi-final performance to claim back-to-back flags for the fifth time in the club's history.
"We kicked more points than goals (7.12) in the second semi-final, so that is something that we have to try and rectify for a start," he said. "We started very well that game but couldn't put them away like we probably should have during that third-quarter.
"But we know we will have to go up another notch and I've expressed that to the playing group and it's just not your normal home and away match." Aalbers is yet to win a flag but has tasted grand final heartache on two occasions during his time with Lavington in 2008 and 2015. Star forward George Alexander returned for the Tigers in the second semi-final for the first time in round 12 and will be better for the hitout.
"George has been training well and we have got a full-list to choose from," Aalber said. "So that is pleasing and internally we feel we have timed things well in regards to player management and everyone is cherry ripe at the right time of the season." DAILY Today's top stories curated by our news team.
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