Destiny calls Doves

By Brad Kingsbury
DOVETON players must do one thing when the take the field in this weekend’s second semi-final showdown with Pakenham – forget everything that has occurred on and off field over the past 20 weeks.
If they can do that and play to their unarguable potential, then they will find themselves in their third senior grand final in five years by 5pm on Sunday.
Man for man the Doves are the best in the league and that was proved over the home-and-away season.
They have not tasted defeat but know, courtesy of draws with Devon Meadows and ROC, that a down day against any finals rival could cost victory and undo months of work.
That knowledge should take care of any complacency among the group, and the reaction of assistant coach Clint Wilson to the challenge confirmed that attitude.
“We’ll train and set up for a real crack at the (second) semi-final,” he said.
“There won’t be any excuses and we should have everyone available for that game after the week off.”
There is no doubting that the sheer football ability of many Doveton players is superior to most, if not all, in the Casey Cardinia league and every club would love to have names like Ryan Hendy, Russell Gabriel, Michael Henry, Ricky Hayes, Justin Hill and Danny Casset on their lists.
That said, Pakenham coach Michael Holland is more than happy with his personnel and believes that he has the team to beat the Doves, despite the one-sided result in the only meeting between the two league leaders in the home-and-away season.
“We haven’t mentioned that game since. It was gone and there was no use dwelling on that until we got to play them again,” he said.
“They’re a quality outfit and they’ve got some unbelievable individual players and they’ve played very well as a team this year too.”
“We will have to bring our best game but I think we can match-up pretty well if we do.”
The key to this clash will be the continuation of the self-belief that Pakenham players found last weekend.
It will be up to their experienced on-field leaders in Glen Wouters, Dan O’Loughlin, Ryan Cassidy, Nathan Brown, Clint Walker and captain Jared Goldsack to turn the tables on the Doves and intimidate them by withstanding any and every challenge.
While anything is possible on a finals football field, planning to stifle the influence of Doveton’s biggest stars on the big stage during September is akin to planning world peace.
It is a great idea but you just know it’s never going to happen.