SFNL: How Hampton plans to secure the Division 4 silverware

A shot at glory awaits Hampton after two all-or-nothing finals and coach Jamie Marshall says their leaders will be as important as ever in their preparation. See why.

Hampton is through to the grand final. Pictures: SUPPLIED

Hampton coach Jamie Marshall will place a focus on his side’s mentality ahead of the Southern Division 4 decider.

He wants his side to be mentally fresh and full of composure when the first siren sounds this Saturday.

The Hammers stormed into the grand final after defeating Dandenong in the do-or-die elimination before beating Moorabbin Kangaroos in a preliminary final at the weekend.

Marhsall’s men came out breathing fire, booting nine goals to one in the opening term.

After two loser-out finals under their belt, compared to South Mornington’s one semi-final, Marshall says his one of his many challenges this week will be how his group recover mentally.

“That’s going to be a tough challenge with our younger group but we were able to get our older heads back from injury and that,” he says.

“Hopefully the more experienced heads can steer the ship a little bit and help our young leaders out to compose the boys.

“I think the biggest thing is to trust our system and back that it can get the job done over South Mornington.

“They have been the benchmark all season, we were able to knock them off at home but we have still got a lot of work to get the job done.

“We need to be relaxed and enjoy the day.”

Hampton is through to the grand final. Pictures: SUPPLIED

After they recover from the pressure of two all-or-nothing finals, Marshall is intent on making sure his young players haven’t already endured the cauldron of grand-final pressure before they step foot onto Heatherton Recreation Reserve.

“We have to make sure players don’t play the game too many times in their own head before they actually run out onto the ground,” he says.

“I think we need to keep everything as normal as possible, keeping everyone as normal as possible and relaxed.

“Everyone needs to do their role and hopefully that gets them relaxed enough to go out there and play the brand of football that got them there.”

The Hammers won’t change a whole lot for this Saturday’s grand final.

The Hammers are the only side to have defeated South Mornington this season, handing the Tigers a 16.11 (107) to 15.13 (103) loss back in Round 14.

Marshall won’t go in with the same game plan that worked that day but won’t bombard the Hammers with adjustments either.

“I think we will tweak it a little bit but we will back most of the structure we have played all year,” he says.

“We won’t change too much, the boys will be nervous enough so if we change a lot it could have the reverse effect.

“We will keep it as normal as possible, make a couple tweaks and get our match ups right.

“They’re a good side, they’ve set the benchmark all season but we need to go out there and prove it wasn’t luck that got the job done.”