Huonville Lions on the hunt for second consecutive SFL flag
The stage is set for an SFL qualifying final blockbuster between the Lions and Two Blues. LATEST >>
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HUONVILLE midfielder Tristan Barnett says if would be “massive” for the Lions to claim back-to-back premierships in the SFL this year and it would come with more meaning after a Covid-19 shortened season in 2020.
The Lions take on Lindisfarne in the qualifying final at Huonville Oval on Saturday for the right to play minor premier Cygnet for first spot in the grand final.
After downing Lindisfarne in the final home-and-away game at Huonville last Saturday to claim second on the ladder and a home final, the Lions are confident.
“We’ve been playing good footy for the past month or so. Things are starting to come together now some of the blokes who had been injured throughout the year are starting to get their bodies right,” Barnett said.
Huonville is hunting place in the grand final for a shot only the club’s second flag in 13 years.
“It would be massive, especially given what we did last year,” Barnett said.
“We’d love the opportunity to go back-to-back, that’s what we play for.
“We’ll take it a week at a time but I think we’ve got the tools to do it and we’ve certainly got the firepower to do it.
“We’ve just got to play our best footy at the right time of year.”
A shorter season last year and restricted crowds made it an extraordinary flag to own.
To win the cup after a full season would be better.
“Absolutely. It would be nicer to play in front of a bigger crowd too – we only had 1000 at the grand final last year,” Barnett said.
“Given the two games we’ve played against Lindisfarne have had crowds have been far bigger, it would be nice to win one in front of a bigger crowd.”
The Two Blues have an array of talent and some will come in for close attention.
“Jack Gleeson is their best player in my opinion, so we will have to look after him. [Michael] ‘Sticks’ Blackburn is dangerous up forward if he gets off the chain and big ‘Cass’ [Michael Cassidy] played really well last weekend,” Barnett said.
“They’ve got some really good players. We really respect them as a team so we will play one-on-one footy and see what happens.”
Lindisfarne won’t over-think its loss to Huonville.
“We’re not reading too much into it _ they’re a great side with a lot of good players,” Gleeson said.
“We have taken some things out of Saturday and we’ll change things up this week.”
Dodges Ferry plays New Norfolk in the do-or-die first-semi at Shark Park, with the winner to play the loser of the qualifying final and mothballs for the loser.
SFL calls for bigger crowds for finals
THE SFL is hoping for a bumper turnout for its finals series with a request in to State Health for an easing of crowd restrictions from 1000 for the grand final last season to a maximum 7000 this year.
SFL boss Russell Young said excitement was building ahead of the first finals on Saturday with Huonville Lions and Lindisfarne to clash in the second semi at Huonville, and Dodges Ferry to host New Norfolk in the cut-throat first semi at Shark Park.
“The SFL competition keeps getting stronger each year and we’ve got Banjos Rosny onboard as our finals partner and now we’re hoping to get our crowd sizes increased,” Young said.
“All the teams in the finals have earned their place and it’s going to be a very close and exciting series.”
Huonville finished second with its win over Lindisfarne last Saturday, and earned the right to host the second-semi _ also against Lindisfarne at Huonville.
“We are more confident as a team going into this week after what we did on Saturday,” said Tristan Barnett.
“We probably took the foot off the gas in the last quarter, which the coach wasn’t happy about, but we’ve been playing some good footy for the past month and things are starting to come together now we’ve got a few players back from injury.”
Two Blues onballer Jack Gleeson believes the Two Blues’ best is good enough.
“Everyone loves playing finals footy, we’ve put in the hard yards and now we get some reward for effort,” Gleeson said.
“Huonville are a great side with a lot of good players, and playing on their home deck is an advantage.
“We have taken some things away from Saturday. We’ll change things up and will go down there with a clean slate.”
Huonville caught Lindisfarne napping.
“We’ve been starting slow for the past month or so, and we’ve been looking into that, so we’ll go back to one-on-one footy to try to nullify that.”
Dodges Ferry forward Cam Hooker said the Sharks would regain key defender Jack Siggins (hamstring) and winger Dan Lewis (ankle).
“We had a disappointing season last year so the boys are pretty hungry to bounce back,” he said.
“We are the underdogs coming into the finals, so we’ll back ourselves.
“We’ve won four in a row now, so we’re starting to play good footy and put ourselves into a good position coming into what is going to be a red-hot finals series.”
New Norfolk’s star Jacob Wigg said the Eagles, who finished fifth, were up for the challenge.
“Over the past few weeks we’ve been playing every game like it was our last, knowing we had to keep winning to get into the five,” he said.
“Hopefully, it has given our young guys that winning mindset, and Dodges is a ground we’ve found hard to play on, so hopefully it can be a good game.”
Saturday SFL Semi-finals
Second semi-final - Huonville Oval 2pm
Huonville Lions v Lindisfarne
First semi-final - Shark Park 2pm
Dodges Ferry v New Norfolk
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