Dolphins eye 14th flag

THE Lorne footballing community is buzzing ahead of its first Colac & District Football League Grand Final in five years, with the Dolphins to meet Irrewarra-Beeac in Colac tomorrow (Saturday, September 21).

Lorne senior football playing coach Ed Curnow, who has not played since Round 18 due to injury, said his group had worked hard to put themselves in a position to win what would be the club’s 14th premiership.

“We’re absolutely stoked at the moment; it’s been a surreal journey to get to this point. It’s been such a great year with so many great people involved.

“I’ve loved playing at Lorne this year, and it’s been made better coaching alongside two blokes in Bryce Vincent and Casey Tutungi.

“Bryce has such a great football brain and he’s great at developing players into young men, and to have Casey there has just been unreal. It’s just been a very enjoyable experience.”

Lorne has had the better of the Bombers three times this season, defeating them in Round 4 by 14 points, in Round 13 by 69 points, and most recently in week one of the finals by 19 points.

Curnow, who is anticipating returning to the side for the decider, said he had a lot of respect for this week’s opponents.

“I just respect the way they play, a good, contested brand of footy, and they’ve got a really good running team, so I’m expecting a wire to wire game and good movement of the ball by foot.

“They’ve got a group of players, especially the likes of Cooper Stephens and the Flanigan brothers.

“As a whole, they’re a hungry and competitive team, so it should be a really good contest.”

Curnow is still baffled by how the Dolphins earned direct entry to the Grand Final, kicking six straight goals to defeat Alvie by three points, capped off by Alex Adams’ game-winning goal with seconds remaining.

The AFL 200-gamer with Carlton said Lorne’s Semi-Final performance was a testament to the team’s resilience.

“It was so exciting, we didn’t have a great day, and we missed opportunities to reduce the gap heading into the fourth quarter.

“In the last quarter, we changed a few things, Casey and Bryce made a few suggestions, and we curbed the momentum.

“But it really just fell down to the character of the group, the guys are awesome to be around, they bring a heap of energy and they never give up.”

Lorne and Irrewarra-Beeac’s Grand Final at Central Reserve start 2.15pm tomorrow.