Hawks’ destiny in their own hands ahead of Prelim

THE three teams remaining in the Bellarine Football League (BFL) finals will be cut to two after today (Saturday, August 31) with Drysdale and Torquay facing off in the Preliminary Final.

Torquay’s loss to Anglesea last Saturday set up the Tigers for today’s (Saturday, August 31) outing at Leopold Memorial Reserve, while Drysdale defeated Modewarre in Sunday’s Semi-Final to make it to the third week of finals.

Drysdale will have a full range of players for the first time this finals, after skipper Mitch McGuire missed the First Qualifying Final a fortnight ago with a calf injury and forward Jake Hargreaves missed the Semi-Final due to suspension.

McGuire, who was instrumental last week out of the middle against the Warriors, said the side was ready to lay it all on the line to earn a second-consecutive Grand Final appearance.

“The week leading up to Modda was long, that’s for sure, but it was good to rectify where we went wrong against Anglesea and it was good to respond in that way.

“We didn’t play too bad in that first game, we just needed to make a few simple fixes which thankfully translated well into last weekend, it was good to get the result that we feel like we earned.”

Drysdale is determined to ensure today’s matchup with Torquay is more even than the previous two occasions this season.

The Hawks went down to Torquay by 53 points in Round 1 and were well beaten the second time around in Round 11, thrashed by 85 points.

McGuire is convinced the side that runs onto the park this week will be a lot different compared to previous meetings.

“We were missing a few guys playing them the second time, but as the year has gone on, guys have moulded more into their roles and less questions are needed to be asked.

“Having that strength of consistency over the back half of the year in particular has been superb, but at the end of the day we know our best footy can match it with anyone else’s.”

Drysdale is seeking its first flag since 2010. It will need to firstly defeat Torquay and then Anglesea to end its 14-year drought.