Anglesea coach Jordan Keras doesn’t want to leave anything to chance this weekend.
The Roos will play finals if they beat fourth-placed Queenscliff and that’s the best, but can still get there if they lose and Drysdale defeats Barwon Heads.
“We’re in a position where we haven’t given ourselves any privileges,” Keras said.
“So this week’s all about winning. They’ve (Queenscliff) taken big scalps, played some really good footy and if you look at our form lines I would say that ours haven’t been as good.
“So I think it’s a good opportunity for us to try and get some form with having a strong side. It’s probably looking like our strongest side since round one.”
Anglesea did it the hard way on Saturday, but found enough to defeat Newcomb by 10 points.
When Jack Duke kicked his first of the day at the 17-minute mark of the final quarter, the Power were only three points behind and a major upset was looming.
But Ayden Gras answered with his second major at the 20-minute mark and the Roos were able to hold on.
Keras praised the efforts of young defender Ike Hardman, who kept the dangerous Duke to just one goal.
“He’s a small defender that normally shuts down the best dangerous forward every week,” Keras said.
“He’s only 19 and to be honest, he kicked the ball straight to him (Duke) in the back pocket (for Duke’s only goal).
“I’ve played him since he was 17 so he’s come through the ranks and we’re seeing that flourish this year particularly. He’d have to be in the top five of our best and fairest. He’s had a great year.”
Keras also praised Newcomb, which was in the contest for the entire game.
“We started to play our brand when we needed to on the weekend when our backs were against the wall and we needed to get going,” he said.
“That last 10 minutes we played competitively and there was a little bit of scrap, but Newcomb also had their chances. They had a lot of opportunities and I would think that they would feel like that’s one that went missing for them, as they certainly had just as many opportunities as us to win the game.”
The Roos will welcome back Jordan Harrison, Tevan Nofi and Noah McGregor-Dawson either this week or next, but the side has struggled to put its best on the park each week.
“We had a healthy list and then we had a significant portion of our good players get injured,” Keras said.
“And then we had guys playing who had very limited experience at senior level due to such a big turnover. So it was quite unexpected. We probably didn’t see it coming.
“But on the flip side of that, we’ve played a lot of guys who have played a lot more senior footy than what they thought and we’ve got healthier at the right time of year.
“Some guys now, who if they’re called upon, they’ve played a fair bit of senior footy and really progressed so there’s always a silver lining.”
BARWON Heads took care of business by beating Modewarre by 20 points, but will have to defeat Drysdale and hope Anglesea loses to snatch fifth spot. Livewire Sammy Baker played well while Kyle Maher and Tom Swift were among the better players.
QUEENSCLIFF needs to defeat Anglesea and hope Drysdale loses to ride up to third place and secure a double chance. The Coutas defeated Torquay by eight points with Jayden McHenry booting five goals. Torquay will finish second regardless of this week’s result against Ocean Grove.
DRYSDALE will finish with the double chance if it defeats Barwon Heads. The Hawks were way too good for Portarlington with the margin blowing out to 129 points with Jake Hargreaves snagging seven goals.
GEELONG Amateur will claim the minor premiership, but had to work hard to get over Ocean Grove by 30 points. Charley Green was the difference with five goals.
