Maribyrnong Park coach Brodie Holland discusses EDFL Division 1 grand final preparations
Maribyrnong Park coach Brodie Holland won’t be letting his players slack off, ramping up preparations for the EDFL Division 1 grand final next week.
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No rest for the wicked, as they say.
Maribyrnong Park coach Brodie Holland will have his players wearing mouthguards at training as it prepares for Saturday week’s EDFL Division 1 grand final.
It will be the Lions’ first grand final in 14 years, dating back to Holland’s last stint as coach when the club won back-to-back Premier Division titles in 2009-10.
With both the senior and reserve grades winning through to the decider with semi-final wins on Saturday, they will have a scratch match to try and keep in peak condition.
The seniors punished a wasteful West Coburg, winning by 24 points at Joe Brown Oval, despite having six fewer scoring shots.
The reserves progressed with a 26-point win over minor premier Hillside.
Holland was keen for his players to remain sharp during the week off.
“We’ll train on Saturday, we’ll have a solid session (on Thursday) then have a scratch match against the twos on Saturday morning,” Holland said.
“We won’t be softening off, by the time we get to grand final day we will have only played one game in four weeks.
“We need to stay as hard as possible, doing a fair bit of loading and high-intensity training with some match sim.
“It really works in our favour with the twos having the week off as well.”
Maribyrnong Park is hoping history repeats having won both senior and reserves premierships last time it was in Division 1 in 2007.
The Lions are looking to make an immediate return to Premier Division after relegation in 2023.
It claimed the minor premiership on percentage, finishing level with West Coburg with a 14-2 record.
In his first season at the club, James Kayrooz has topped the goalkicking with 60 goals in 17 matches, while Brodie Romensky added 47 and Tom Wyatt 36.
Despite the club’s success, Holland is keen to keep a lid on expectations.
“The job’s not done just yet, grand finals are 50-50,” he said.
“We’ve put ourselves right in the frame and everyone is really excited around the club.
“As you can imagine, from all reports, it wasn’t a good place to be around last year, a lot of guys didn’t enjoy the season.
“This year, because of where we are and the amount of wins we’ve had, one thing I wanted to bring to the table was enjoyment where we had fun with, regardless of win, lose or draw.”
The Saints will meet St Albans in the preliminary final.
Holland said a number of players are still in the mix to play in the senior grand final side but it depended on which club they faced.
“Ned Ryan a key position back, Kieran McGadey who is a good player out of luck and Zach Couglan was dropped to bring in a couple of VFL players and played in an under-18s final and did extremely well.
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“We’ll have to wait and see who wins on the weekend, both teams are a bit different.
“St Albans have got some genuine talls up forward and down back, while West Coburg are quite small across the ground.”
West Coburg and St Albans handed Marby its two defeats of the season.
The Saints claimed a 16-point win in Round 1, while the other Saints took a two-point win in Round 4, triggering the Lions’ 13-game win streak.
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