The preliminary final slate for Picola District Football League is now set.
After Tungamah and Katunga scored semi-final wins at the weekend, the sides will meet Waaia and Strathmerton respectively in the last stop off before the big dance.
Thanks to a searing start the Bears downed Jerilderie on Sunday and held on with everything they had to clinch a 12.11 (83) to 7.22 (64) win.
Tungamah co-coach Sam Ferguson said there was a real focus on starting well pre-game and it sure showed.
“It was a pretty distinct scoring end which we had in the first quarter and we started really well,” he said.
“They didn’t stop, it was a bit of a grind and they came pretty hard late.
“But we’d set ourselves up well enough earlier in the game which was good.”
The Bears fired home three goals to Jerilderie’s none in the first term, but allowed the Demons to drag it back to a 10-point game at the main break.
A reset was needed, which Ferguson was happy to shed light on.
“(We were) just trying to limit our lapses and come out at half-time with a bit of a better attitude and an emphasis on high intensity footy,” he said.
“One on one we can match them and go further, so I thought we brought that pretty well, and then we were able to hit up our forwards with good ball movement and put them on the back foot early.
“We got a bit of a run on in that third quarter which is pleasing. I think our midfield stood up compared to last week when they probably got their pants pulled down.
“That was good from that point of view.”
Tungamah came out and whipped the ball forward with force after half-time, compounding Jerilderie’s misery with a six-goal third quarter.
The Bears cooled off a touch, but did enough to withstand a late charge, the Demons only having themselves to blame after posting an astounding 22 behinds in the loss.
After the win, Ferguson threw compliments the way of some of his troops.
“Terence Jones and his grunt around the footy and the stoppages and in tight was really good,” he said.
“Jye Holcombe down back, there was a couple of defensive efforts which saved goals, that was pretty inspirational.
“You could probably throw a hat over a few, I think today we just had an even spread of contributors which helped us get the choccies in the end.”
Meanwhile, Katunga punched its ticket to the prelim with a comfortable victory over Katandra.
Daniel Campbell romped around Waaia Recreation Reserve with nine goals to help put the Kats to the sword 14.23 (107) to 8.6 (54).
· Picola District Football Netball League operations manager Shane Railton confirmed that the league had rubber stamped its points system and salary cap for the 2024 season at the weekend.
A sub-committee agreed to not alter the current points system and the salary cap will remain at $95,000.
Railton said the league was pleased to make the announcement before the end of the finals series to allow clubs to begin preparations for next year.