QAFL grand final preview 2024: Morningside vs Redland Victoria Point
Coaches Phil Carse and Paul Egan have broken down their grand final match-ups, lead-in form and key players as they battle it out to be crowned 2024 QAFL champions. See what they had to say.
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Four quarters is all that remains in the 2024 QAFL season.
Morningside are one step away from completing their 2024 finals revival while Redland Victoria Point hope to erase the memory of last season’s grand final defeat and taste its first QAFL premiership.
Both teams were unable to find the edge over Aspley during the regular season but flipped the script on the 2023 premiers come finals time, knocking the league leaders out in straight sets.
The Panthers and Sharks have only met once this season, which came all the way back in round five and ended with a 14.6 (90) to 8.8 (56) scoreline in favour of Morningside.
Ahead of Sunday’s 2.30pm clash at Brighton Homes Arena, we caught up with both head coaches to gain insight into where the match will be won and lost
Form
Morningside
Last five: W, L, W, L, W
After stamping their feet as the team to beat at the beginning of the season, Morningside cruised through their first nine games undefeated, with an average winning margin of 56, before being brought back down to earth by Aspley.
The Panthers went on to drop a further three matches all season with losses to Labrador, Aspley again and Maroochydore in the final round of the regular season.
Despite their rollercoaster finish to the year, head coach Paul Egan was pumped with his sides 15.11 (101) to 12.9 (81) performance against minor premiers Aspley in the qualifying final.
“I thought our showing against Aspley was fairly on point which gave everyone a nice boost but I think prior to that it’s a bit hard to label our results given they were all a few weeks ago now,” Egan said.
“The win against Aspley was what we planned and prepared for so we’re confident in our form leading in.”
Redland Victoria Point
Last five: W, W, W, W, W
Redland Victoria Point have ran hot after a slow start to the year that had them sitting with a 3-4 win-loss record and well off the pace.
Since then, the Sharks have been near unbeatable as they surged from outside the top two into the grand final.
“It’s been a really tough road this year. We had to show perseverance and resilience and a bit of grit,” coach Phil Carse said.
“We were staring down the barrel, but we’ve won 12 of our last 14 now and across that time we’ve had a lot of injuries and unavailabilities and big names sitting on the sideline.
“In the past we’ve relied on individuals to get us across the line but it’s a much more even team effort at the moment, everyone’s playing their role and we’ve got plenty of confidence.”
He said the turn around had been inspired by some “soul searching”.
“The biggest thing we identified was we had to become a little more resilient as a club and play moment to moment a little more rather than worrying when something went against us and letting it affect our performance. It was more of a mental feat I would say more than anything else, we’ve got to be proud of the boys and what they’ve done.”
The most remarkable win of them all came in last week’s preliminary final after Dylan Smith launched a goal from well beyond 50m that sailed through as the siren sounded to lift Redland to a four-point win over Aspley. The ball had been at a forward stoppage in Aspley’s forward 50 with 20 seconds to play.
“It was a crazy feeling,” Carse said of that win.
“ I didn’t hear the siren at the time, the crowd noise and everything was so loud ... I was preparing to try and get an extra number back behind the footy and all that kind of stuff.
“When I realised it was an incredible moment. That’s why we love footy.”
Key match-ups
As is so often the case in a game of such calibre, there will be plenty of tantalising match-ups to keep your eye on across the field.
Redland coach Phil Carse predicted that whoever lines up on his star key forward Matt Hammelmann will be crucial.
‘There’s a few of them that might have a go,” he predicted of which Morningside defender may tackle the tall task of manning up on the goal machine.
In the midfield, Carse believed Morningside’s Tommy Horne would go to Ethan Petterwood, then there’s the question of what Redland do about the red-hot Nakia Cockatoo, who can break the game open.
“It’s one of those games where there’ll be great match-ups across the ground to be honest,” Carse said.
Morningside’s Paul Egan echoed a similar sentiment.
“They’ve got winners on every line so if you don’t get it right or lack focus in each area it can quickly bite you where it hurts,” Egan said.
“There’s a number of important match-ups everywhere I think so hopefully we can win more than what they win.”
Biggest threats
Morningside
With 170 days since the two teams last met, Egan said he took plenty away from the Sharks and Hornets preliminary final match.
“It was a great game, probably was one of the more exciting finals matches in some time for it to come down to the wire like it did,” he said.
“They’re pretty well balanced and showed on the weekend the way they started on the ball certainly wasn’t how they finished.
“They’ve got the ability to flip the magnets around which only adds to their experience and key pillars at each end through Willo (Adrian Williams) and Hammer (Matt Hammelmann) plus their strong midfield.”
Redland Victoria Point
“They’ve got some really dangerous players across the field that have got a lot of offensive traits,” Carse said of Morningside.
He pinpointed Garrett McDonagh in defence, as well as Nakia Cockatoo and Kelly Castle as players to be particularly mindful of.
In Morningside’s semi final win over Aspley, Cockatoo ran riot with 27 disposals and three goals while Castle nailed four majors himself.
“We’re going to have to work our way through that and bring our defensive system to the table,” he said.
“ Teams that can pressure well are generally the teams that can win finals.”
The final message
It’s gameday, now step inside the changerooms and listen to what the coaches are telling their players before they run out with their seasons on the line:
Morningside
“We’ve had two weeks to lead into it now but the vibe around the place is positive, everyone has been quietly going about their business and it was a normal rest and recovery approach as we watched our other finalists,” Egan said.
“We’re not going to get any fitter or more skillful now, it’s just about honing in on what we need to do and how we’ll go about it.
“There’s a really unique set of circumstances around each club because each player has their own connection both ways.
“There’s a lot of opposition guys that are great mates with each other, played a lot of footy together, have attended each other’s weddings and special things like that so there’ll be a bit of bragging rights and one-upmanship all day which only adds to the exciting occasion.”
Redland Victoria Point
“It’ll just be a lot of reiterating what we’ve been doing over this past three or four months,” Carse said.
“Reaffirming that what we’ve done has been working and that we want to bring out those traits again and bring out the best in ourselves.”
Originally published as QAFL grand final preview 2024: Morningside vs Redland Victoria Point
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