Brothers and Magpies battle for first spot in the decider

Will Easts break a grand final drought or will Brothers continue their incredible record of grand finals in odd years.

Brothers player Hayden Golchert gets tackled.

LEAGUE: Past Brothers insist their time off won’t impact their charge towards a third grand final in five years the in Bundaberg Rugby League A-grade competition.

The Brethren are aiming for more success after winning the premiership in 2015 and 2017.

The side absolutely loves odd years, with Past Brothers making the decider in 2009, 2011 and 2013 as well.

But they faces a challenge with no football played by the club for three weeks and no wins in the competition for a month.

“We’ve kept the intensity fairly high and had three sessions a week, including ones on Saturday,” Brothers captain Kevin Sherriff said.

“It doesn’t worry us – if we play our best football, we know we can get the win.”

Sherriff said the club felt pressure to perform but he was confident the experienced team could deliver. At least a dozen of the side’s players have experienced playing in finals.

But Brothers are wary of Easts, especially after the Magpies’ win against the Brethren earlier this year.

Sherriff said his side would be looking to stop the impact of Matt Craven, who a couple of weeks ago was judged as the best player in the competition this year.

“We’re not targeting him, but we will be making sure we are aware of where he is,” Sherriff said.

“The ball is probably going somewhere near him when he is involved.”

Easts coach Mick O’Sullivan said there was plenty of confidence in the side as they aimed to get into the grand final for the first time since 2010.

It is the club’s first chance to qualify for a decider since 2014.

“I love this time of the year,” O’Sullivan said.

“We have a full squad on deck and we’ve set a goal on our defence to do well against Brothers.”

O’Sullivan said he was pleased with the defence after last week’s win against The Waves. Now he hopes the side can deliver again and give the team a week off.

“Making the grand final is an achievement and what we set out to do at the start of the season,” he said.

“We’ve had (Hayden) Priestley and (Trent) Seeds chatting to the team, providing experience about winning it before.”

O’Sullivan said not playing for a while would not matter to Brothers and he was ­expecting his team to face a fit and powerful side.

The match starts at 6.30pm at Salter Oval.