Left: Beaconsfield’s defence has been boosted by the addition of former Berwick player David Williams this season.By Brad Kingsbury
NARRE Warren will only exorcise its demons of 2004 if it can defeat Beaconsfield in this Saturday’s qualifying final at the Edwin Flack Reserve.
Last season the Magpies finished a marvellous season on top of the ladder, only to be dumped out of the premiership race in straight sets after the Eagles found a way to beat them in a cliffhanger second semifinal.
Again the Magpies have earned the double chance and again a loss will likely cost them their flag chances.
The Magpies are up and flying at the right time of year with a full list of players to select its best 21 from.
Coach Paul Hamilton has the luxury of great depth and will be hoping that his stars of the homeandaway rounds led by Lee Clark, Danny and Shane Brewster, Shane Dwyer and Daniel Field will continue their stellar form after an easy time of it last weekend.
“We won easily, but it was still a physical game so that was good for this week’s game,” he said.
“Our backline has been fantastic and everything is going very well. We will pretty much have a full complement of players and that’s good for this time of year.”
That is not the case for Beaconsfield coach Leigh Clifford, who will be without experienced players including Dean Ziesler, Kane Airdrie and Troy Cashman but should welcome Clint Evans back.
“We’ll attack it a little differently this week. Narre Warren is a different side and a few blokes will probably have jobs, but we’ll worry about that during the week,” a coy Clifford said after last week’s loss to Doveton.
The key to this game will be the fitness of Beaconsfield keys Robbie Taylor, Chris Kelf, Daniel Charles and Kris Fletcher, together with their ability to run out four quarters of football under finals pressure.
Their only meeting this season resulted in a win to the Magpies and if ever they can unseat the reigning kings it has to be this weekend.
