Chargers get their shot at title glory

THE Surf Coast Chargers is four quarters away from potentially claiming its maiden Big V championship, if it can overcome Craigieburn on their home court tomorrow (Saturday, August 31) night.

The Chargers, which redeemed itself on Saturday with a win away against Mildura after failing to do so two weeks earlier, will play in its first title decider in more than three years.

The Eagles go into the contest as favourites, having secured the minor premiership and playing just one game to date during the finals versus Surf Coast’s three.

Chargers captain Jason Reardon said his team remained optimistic, despite facing off against a formidable Craigieburn outfit.

“Craigieburn are a tough opponent.

“They don’t have any real weaknesses. They shoot the ball well from outside and have quality bigs inside.

“In saying that, we match up pretty well against them. We have no fear facing them as our best will beat anybody.

“We play our roles as a team and do it as a unit and we can come away with the win.”

The Chargers needed to overcome much adversity to pull out the win against Mildura in last week’s preliminary final, with the side running into “bus trouble” the night beforehand.

“We had an incident on the Friday night on the bus. Coach Dave [Scott] and the bus driver – they haven’t said who did it – put unleaded fuel in the diesel bus,” Reardon said.

“We broke down three-and-a-half hours out of Mildura at 9.30pm at night. Lucky the president was there with his vehicle, and we fit the players in it.

“The coaches had to stay in St Arnaud the night because there wasn’t enough room in the cars. So we arrived in Mildura at 1.30am Saturday.”

 

Reardon described the preliminary final as a typical finals game: not pretty, but high pressure.

“We know that we have multiple guys who contribute in different ways when we need them,” he said.

“Harry Moran was huge on the boards and Tyler Erard made some big plays late, but it takes five guys on the floor to get the result. We all played our roles really well that night.

“That game was a huge win for us. We were all absolutely ecstatic with the result. It was a battle from the opening tip and to rally after they made a late run at us was all the more satisfying.

“We showed real grit and resilience to pull through in front of a loud and hostile crowd. We couldn’t be prouder of the win.”

Surf Coast and Craigieburn tip-off in the Big V Division Two Grand Final at the Craigieburn Sports Stadium tomorrow at 7pm.