The Greater Northern Hockey League reaches its climax this weekend with Burnie Baptist and South Burnie to lock horns in the men’s season decider at McKenna Park.
The 1:00pm showdown on Saturday will see the two highest-scoring teams and the two teams with the tightest defences over the home-and-away season meet in what shapes as an epic all-North West showdown.
In front of goal, Burnie Baptist has been clinical and scored 118 for the season in 16 matches, 50 of those from the stick of talisman Khan Riley, who has been brilliant at the set piece, as he has been for a lot of years.
South Burnie was not far behind with 110 goals, spread further with solid contributions from Stu Bowles and Jordan Dart.
The defences of both sides have been tested at times but the Hawks have the better record during the regular season, conceding only 18 goals while Baptist have allowed 20 to slip past.
Baptist coach Braden Johnson said he had been thinking of finals for a large part of the season.
“For me personally, I missed the last one so it’s a big opportunity and something I’ve been thinking for the best part of the season and I think the boys have, too,” Johnson said.
“We’ve put in a mountain of work and built a game plan and playing style that’s effective. and it’s shown in the results with the goals we’ve scored.
“We’re potent on corners and field goals too and I’m confident in our ability to put the ball in the back of the net.
“We have players across the ground who are able to score.
“Khan is that deadly option from corners but if you look across our goal scoring charts it’s an even spread and I’ll back any of the boys to put away a goal when it’s needed.”
The Baptist defence has been a little underrated this season and Johnson believes it’s been an important part of getting his side to the last game of the year.
“We’re focused on discipline on the defensive side of the ball and ultimately when you aren’t getting scored against it’s hard to lose a game,” Johnson said.
“We’ll have a full squad of 16, the same team that ran out two weeks ago in the semi-final.”
Much spoken-about South Burnie import Jou Torres is one player identified by Johnson as a person of interest for his side.
“Jou is s fantastic player and definitely one who has been on our radar and, again, going into this game we’ll be giving him attention and respect,” Johnson said.
The Burnie Baptist side has a lot of exciting players but Johnson believes cooler experienced heads like Paul Badcock and Rick Webb will have a crucial role to play.
“I think it’s underrated having those experienced players on the team,” Johnson said.
“Older guys who have that composure.
“It’s invaluable to show the young blokes how to operate.
“They bring another set of level heads that the team definitely benefits from.”
South Burnie mentor Dart believes his side is confident of a good result.
“We haven’t had Burnie Baptist at full strength this year and that’s what we’ve had in the last couple of weeks and that’s what we’ll have this week,” Dart said.
“I’m quite confident.
“We’re playing the style we want to play and if we do that we’ll come away with a win.
“Last time we played Burnie Baptist we didn’t have Ancs (Paul Anchor) or Connor (Poke) so having that extra fire power up front and better defence all round will be good.
“They’ll have a pretty big impact on the ground.
South Burnie came through the hard way with a come-from-behind win over Queechy in horrendous conditions in the first semi-final.
“This year we haven’t dropped our heads when we’ve been a goal down,” Dart said.
“We go one down and think, ‘now it’s time to win’.
Dart said Tyson Johnson and the quick Baptist midfield will be important for his opponent.
“Tyson in the middle,” Dart said.
“We have to be careful and not give away too many penalty corners but it’s the speed of some of their midfielders that catches a lot of teams out.
“They can get behind pretty quick.”
The younger arm of the Hawks campaign has also been important with the likes of Hayden Davey, twins William and Connor Stirling and Zeppelin Barnard finding their feet well at GNL level.
“The difference has been night and day how they’ve progressed in 12 months,” Dart said.
“They are starting to feel a part of the team as opposed to a bench player and have a lot of banter and rapport with teammates which shows they are comfortable and that’s when you succeed.”
A live stream of the GNLM Grand Final is available at the link below.
GREATER NORTHERN LEAGUE MENS GRAND FINAL
Saturday 14 September 2024 at 1:00pm
Burnie Baptist v South Burnie
McKenna Park, Burnie
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