Springvale South’s Ryan Quirk confident of flag success

Despite one of its stars set to miss the DDCA grand final, Springvale South is confident it has the players to fill the void. Here’s who could stand up.

There’s no doubt in Springvale South captain Ryan Quirk’s mind that his side can secure this Saturday’s Turf 1 grand final without him.

The Bloods were forced defeat Hallam Kalora Park in the preliminary final without him after Quirk fractured his foot at Narre Warren footy training last Monday.

Despite making 509 runs at an average in excess of 50 this summer, Quirk is adamant that his side has the depth to clinch the title over Buckley Ridges for the second successive summer.

“Oh, absolutely,” he said sharply.

“It’s an exciting week, the boys will take a lot of confidence from the weekend because Hallam were on top for most of the innings.

“The ability for us to fight back, our batting order with Yoshy (Yoshan Kumara) batting at seven for us, he is a star.

“Jordy Mackenzie coming in (for me), we know he can play cricket, he can take the game away from a side.

“The boys are super confident.”

Quirk on the drive. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Saturday’s win over Hallam Kalora Park didn’t come without a fright as the Bloods were 4-52 in pursuit of the Hawks’ 160 at Alex Nelson Reserve.

But it was Blade Baxter – who had already captured 4-46 – and former skipper Paul Hill who steadied the ship and steered the Bloods into the decider.

The pair (Baxter 55 not out, Hill 17 not out) combined for a match-saving 51 and its importance wasn’t lost on Quirk.

“I think the boys are really good at understanding what their role is and all the boys are very smart cricketers that understand game situations,” he said.

“We were 4-50 and Blade (Baxter) batted through the innings, he knew what he needed to do as soon as he went in.

“Hilly (Paul Hill) came in and knew what he needed to do as well, I think we have 11 blokes that are really smart cricketers.

“Hilly is the most selfless player, he is up to the stumps all day and then comes in to bat at eight – which is way too low for a batter like him – he’s a star.”

Blade Baxter was incredible on Saturday. Picture: Valeriu Campan

With both sides littered with swashbuckling batters, Quirk is confident the side that executes the best with ball in hand will claim Saturday’s silverware.

“Both sides are really good batting sides, so I think how each sides bowl will be the massive difference,” he said.

“They’ve (Buckley Ridges) got a good bowling line-up and we have five really good bowlers, potentially six with Sketch (Jackson Sketcher).

“We’ve got Dowlo (Josh Dowling), Yoshy, Blade, ‘Strakes’ (Jarryd Straker) who I think is the best bowler in the comp, he bowled seven overs on the weekend for no runs, that’s absolutely ludicrous.

“So I think the game is going to be won or lost in the bowling side of things.”

Saturday’s decider at Arch Brown Reserve in Berwick will be the third time in five seasons Springvale South and Buckley Ridges will meet in the Turf 1 grand final.