Coach consults team’s leaders

Augusta-Margaret River coach Matthew Jamieson believes his side needs to improve its transitional ball use ahead of Sunday’s clash against Bunbury at Payne Park.

“We ran through a fair bit of match simulation at training on Tuesday night,” he said.

“Just so we are getting the ball in the right person’s hands, along with how we want to move the ball forward.

“That was where we probably let ourselves down last weekend, so we’ll make sure we play that brand of footy this weekend.”

Jamieson consulted with the Hawks’ leadership group after Sunday’s home loss against Busselton in a bid to shelve a disappointing fortnight for the club, with their hopes of finishing in the top three all but evaporating.

“I think that everyone knows that we’ve won finals over the past couple of years,” he said.

“We were a kick away from the grand final last year and we obviously know that we can win finals, so we all have that belief.

“The boys said on Tuesday night that we have nothing to lose now, because we don’t get a double chance.

“We have to win every game from here on in, so that’s the way we are going to approach it this week.

“It’ll be a final for us on Sunday really.”

Player unavailability has crippled the Hawks at times during 2019, however Jamieson is adamant that the Hawks will be at full strength for week one of the finals.

Bulldogs coach Jamie Nani will be spoilt for choice at the selection table this weekend.

Benjamin Harris and Blake La Rosa played their first league games against the Tigers on Saturday and according to the Bulldogs boss, they both didn’t look out of place at league level and were worthy of another opportunity.

However with a host of big names also available to come back into the side, the Bulldogs match committee will face a tough task in determining who will miss out.

Nani’s philosophy for Sunday’s clash is simple – just keep winning. “We are really keen for Sunday,” he said.