Burras seal finals spot after their best month of football for year

A month ago, Sebastopol were almost on the scrap heap. Now, after a regroup, the success-starved Burras are ready for finals action.

Sebastopol coach Mick Searl says a team talk a month ago has helped his side to become the in-form team in the Ballarat Football Netball League.

The Burras have stormed into premiership calculations after four straight wins, including a 15-point win last Saturday against North Ballarat.

In a close contest, Sebastopol’s Hugo Papst kicked three of the last five goals of the game to get his side over the line.

Hugo Papst tries to get the ball off a Melton player last year. He had the last laugh on Saturday, kicking three late goals to help his team win. Picture: Hamish Blair

Sebastopol is now fourth on the ladder — a month ago they were sitting seventh.

Three straight losses, from rounds nine to 11, saw the side face the real possibility of missing finals.

Since the 41 point loss to Melton in round 11, the team has been the best in the competition, winning four in a row, including wins against East Point and Bacchus Marsh by less than 10 points.

“We were in a bit of a slump,” Searl said.

“We had some injuries and some attitude concerns including attendance issues.

“What I mean by attendance is we had a few that said ‘I’m sick, I can’t get there’.

“It was the little things starting to creep in there.”

Searl said the team being five to 10 per cent being off so action was needed.

“We had to regroup and rally together,” he said.

“We tried to revisit our expectations and it is something we do regularly.

“We had strong conversations at the start of the season (about what we want).”

What also helped was the club getting its core midfield group back with Lachlan Cassidy, Luke Kiel and Chase Dummett returning from injury.

Between them the trio missed almost 20 games of football.

“He’s (Lachlan) had a huge influence in the midfield since he returned,” Searl said.

“Getting those boys back at the right time of the year has been a major help.

“And thankfully we are getting them before the finals too.”

Sebastopol is now two games clear of those outside finals contention.

The Burras play Lake Wendouree and Ballarat Swans, at home, in the final two rounds with a top two finish on offer if they win both.

The team is one game behind Ballarat and East Point, with a game in hand over the Kangaroos, in the race for second.

Searl said the focus was on internal factors and making sure the culture was right for premiership success.

“Sebas is a club starved of success, we’ve had one finals appearance in a touch over 20 years,” he said.

“It’s a little bit of culture issue and we’re trying to shift that mentality.

“We’ve got an opportunity (for success) and got the group to do something special.

“We’re aware of the great opportunity we’ve got and we’re not shy by talking about it.

“The main goal is to put steps in place and build towards creating the habits for success.”

Sebastopol is looking for its first premiership in the Ballarat Football Netball League since entering the competition in 1978.

Their last premiership came in 1975 in the old Clunes Football League.