BFL Finals 2023: Anglesea ready for finals football

Anglesea is set to to welcome back a host of stars for its elimination final clash against Modewarre.

Anglesea coach Jordan Keras. BFL 2023: Modewarre v Anglesea football. Picture: Alan Barber

Anglesea coach Jordan Keras says the round 18 BFL loss to Modewarre will have little bearing on the club’s confidence heading into an elimination final clash against the Warriors.

The Roos suffered a 30-point loss to Modewarre last weekend, having rested almost half of the best 22 after locking in a finals berth the week before.

Keras said the recent clash would give the club fresh ammunition to assess how to play and beat the Warriors, but it would be a different game at Portarlington.

“There’s definitely a bit more work that goes into watching games for finals, but it’ll be a bit of a different game this week,” he said.

“We should have a different looking side that plays this week, plus I think the bigger grounds (like Portarlington) suit us a bit.

“The bigger grounds have really suited us more this year, we’ve got a pretty agile forward line and midfield group and our fitness level is probably one of our strengths.

“We think that pays off coming into the end of games, and on bigger grounds it’ll help more because we’ll be able to run and use the space more.”
Keras did not take the field in round 18, instead opting to coach from the sidelines, but he and a number of senior stars are set to return.

He said there were at least six changes coming, but he hoped to get star forward Dylan Pettingill cleared before the Sunday clash.

“The way footy works there’s always complications with these sort of things, on Monday I thought we’d have eight or nine changes, but we’ve had a couple of health issues with some of our players

“Myself, Lachie Smith, Jack Baker, Harrison Veale, Matt Connell and Fergus Huntington will all be pretty much locked in though, barring nothing happening before Sunday.

“Dyl Pettingill is still a bit of a wait, he’s had a bit of a rough trot this year which is a shame, we haven’t been able to get him much on the park.

“Hopefully we have him, but we’ve played a fair bit of footy without him this year so we’ll have a ‘plan B’ if he doesn’t get up.

“I think he’s the best forward in the competition, in my opinion, he’s averaging nearly five goals per game so he’s hard to replace.

“We’ve had some guys step up in his absence and had good games this season, every team is probably missing some important players though, so you just have to pull your socks up and go out to play.”

Originally published as BFL Finals 2023: Anglesea ready for finals football