Tara Murray
Caroline Springs will be better for its first Western Region Football League division 1 final ahead of a preliminary final.
The Lakers, who finished on top of the ladder, will need to make the most of the second chance if they’re to bounce back and win through to the grand final.
On Saturday, the Lakers fell short against Altona in a cracker game of football in their semi final. The Lakers started the better of the two sides, before the Vikings stepped up in the second half.
The game could have gone either way in the dying minutes, with the Vikings winning, 11.5 (71)-9.11 (65).
Lakers football manager Marc Raak said it was a good game of football.
“We fell a bit short in the end,” he said. “Full credit to Altona who got the job done.
“It was anyone’s one with a few minutes left, hopefully we can bounce back and play Altona in two weeks time.”
“We said to the boys that we’ve got the double chance and we need to know how to use it.”
The Lakers were playing their first final since claiming the division 2 grand final in 2016.
Raak said playing in a division 1 final was a new experience for most of the playing group.
“We had seven or eight kids who are still 19 and under,” he said. “It was a good experience for them.
“We’re disappointed at the moment. We’ll look to work on a few things throughout the week and review the game and the areas that we have to work on.”
Raak said they were happy with the start of the game and continued their trend of starting games well.
He said it was the third quarter that proved to be costly.
“It let us down,” he said. “The way we moved the footy wasn’t what it should have been.
“We had a really good last quarter by all our indicators.”
The Lakers will face either the Werribee Districts or Deer Park in the preliminary final on Saturday for a spot in the grand final.
They will be joined by their reserves side which lost their semi final to Werribee Districts, 6.9 (45)-6.7 (43).
The Tigers had led by 32 points at half time.
Raak said both teams would hit the track together with the same aim, a grand final spot.
“We’re not dead and buried just yet.”
