WRFL: North Footscray earn preliminary final berth with win over Wyndhamvale

North Footscray’s luck finally appears to have turned the corner at the perfect time as it moved just one win away from a grand final.

North Footscray is peaking at the right time.

After a home-and-away season hampered by injuries to key personnel, the Devils are getting closer to full strength with a Western Region Football League Division 2 preliminary final against Parkside awaiting them on Saturday.

North Footscray ensured its season was extended for at least another week after overcoming Wyndhamvale 13.18 (96) to 10.8 (68) in Sunday’s elimination final.

In the aftermath, coach David Battistella declared it was his side “strongest team of the year” that was able to get the job done.

And that’s despite the absences of Joel Richardson, Maniel Naci and Sam Woollard who had all featured for the majority of the season.

“We haven’t had a great run,” he said.

“Every week we’ve had a fair few changes but along the way we’ve probably found a few players who have stepped up and played really important roles for us.

“A few places finally seemed to fall into place for us on the weekend. Our form over the last two months had been okay, we didn’t think we were going as bad as some of the results might have suggested.

“We’re going to have some decisions to make before the next game.”

North Footscray’s Cameron Fowler. Picture: Andy Brownbill

Among those to return for Sunday’s game was Connor Roach who kicked two goals in one of his better performances of the season.

It was the first time Roached had played since Round 15.

Meanwhile, Adam Petridis and Jordan Eitler finished with three goals apiece as Declan Wakefield was named the best player on the ground.

“He’s (Roach) a small forward who probably doesn’t get identified by other teams but he’s really important to our structure,” Battistella said.

North Footscray will enter Saturday’s do-or-die clash as underdogs with Parkside having got the better of the Devils on three separate occasions this season.

But Batistella knows his players will be up for the challenge.

“Whether they (Parkside) lost by a point against Point Cook Centrals or whatever margin they did it was never going to change their mindset,” he said.

“Like us, they want another shot at beating the team who hasn’t lost a game. We’re going to have to change the way we play. We’ve been in the game every time we’ve played them but unfortunately a 15 to 20 minute period can let us down.

“It’s going to be an opportunity for us to try some different things and if it doesn’t work at least I can look back and say I gave it a crack.

“We’re not going to die wondering.”

The preliminary final will be played at Braybrook’s Pennell Reserve from 2.15pm.