By Tyler Lewis
A local rivalry is in the offing with Wandin set to take on Woori Yallock for a Grand Final berth after each side’s sem-final results.
The Dogs were toppled by the Pies 15.14 (104) to 10.9 (69) and will play the Tigers after they defeated Olinda-Ferny Creek.
Wandin coach Nick Adam was pleased with his group’s output in the first half, but was saddened that they weren’t able to sustain it for the full four quarters.
“Some of the best footy we had played all year in the first half,” he said.
“But we probably didn’t take full advantage of winning the territory battle in the first half.
“Narre Warren are a great team that hurt us on the scoreboard when they had momentum in the third quarter.”
In his pre-game, Dogs coach Nick Adam asked his boys to channel the same relentless pressure and energy the Sydney Swans brought to the MCG on Friday night.
And his group delivered exactly that in the opening half, becoming just the second side to lead Narre Warren at the main break this season.
But things changed in the third term, and it wasn’t just Narre Warren’s Trent Cody ditching the new Nike’s for the trusty old ones… it was a different Pies side – an aggressively inspired one – led by Tom Toner, who had made his way from half back to deep forward.
It was former Hawthorn Hawk and Western Bulldog Matt Suckling who took back the lead for Narre Warren before Toner injected himself into the contest.
He hit a thick pack at a break-neck speed and gathered the Sherrin before it had even touched a blade of grass on his way to an open goal, before his second came from the paint of the arc – sending the Pies almost four goals adrift.
Narre Warren followed up with Jarrod Smith’s third and Jake Richardson’s first which capped off a comprehensive third term that grossed six unanswered majors for the Maggies.
Each side added three goals in the final stanza to see out the match that saw Narre Warren book its fourth successive grand final appearance.
“We made a couple of moves and they seemed to work alright, they (his group) lifted their intensity,” Pies coach Shane Dwyer said of the third quarter.
“It shouldn’t be any different to them, but it just clicked… we felt they (Wandin) were going as good as they could go, but we had another level to go to.
Dwyer feels there is less pressure on his side to succeed after their mid-season hiccup.
“You know the other team is going to come for you when you have had a pretty dominant year,” he said.
“But it probably would’ve been a lot more pressure if we hadn’t lost that game to Woori (Yallock).”
“We didn’t feel that pressure, we just felt if we turned up to play as well as we can play, we think we will be okay.”
“We didn’t do that in the first half, but credit to them, they had a real red-hot crack.”
