MORE of the same. That’s the call from Inverell coach Simon Clarke as the Highlanders look to make it third time lucky at Walcha and claim the Tier 2 silverware tomorrow.
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It will be their first grand final since 2010 and, for Clarke, the opposition couldn’t be more ironic.
He’s an old Walcha boy.
“I was born there and lived there until I was 17,” he said.
That will all be forgotten tomorrow though as he plots the Rams’ demise.
The Highlanders have had to get to the decider the hard way, and done it tough at times.
But their hardest test arguably awaits tomorrow.
“You know you’re going to get a hard game at Walcha whatever the circumstances,” Clarke said.
“The atmosphere and intensity will only be heightened because it’s a grand final.”
They’ve already travelled there twice this season.
Both times the Rams have come out on top.
“Both were similar,” Clarke said.
“We stuck with them for two-thirds, three-quarters of the game.
“They just got away on us at the end.
“We weren’t playing the full game then.”
Now they are.
That was never more evident than against Gunnedah last week.
Whereas in previous games they would have faded in the last 20, they lifted, which they needed to do after being reduced to 14.
Clarke said they were ready to go.
“We had a good training run last night. The boys finished with good crisp, clean hands,” he said yesterday.
“All our plans are in place.”
He said they don’t really need to do anything different to what they have been the last month and a bit.
Aside from showing a bit better discipline.
Defensively, he has had little to complain about.
They’ll need another big defensive effort tomorrow, with Clarke highlighting that as one of the areas where they need to be better against the Rams than they have been.
“Our defence needs to lift and we need to be up in their faces to hassle their type of ball play,” Clarke said.
Their body height also needs to be low to cut down their forwards and stop them getting momentum.
He is also very wary of the Rams’ outside backs.
“They seem to cause some damage,” he said.
“We need to make sure our kicks are spot on and go out.”
They don’t want to be giving them chances to run back at a fractured defensive line.
He said they would draw a lot from the manner of their win over the Red Devils given the adversity they were under.
“It was a great effort. We had 13 men towards the end,” Clarke said.
“That shows character.”
They have made only the one change to the side that started against the Red Devils, with Tim Hayes coming back into seven.
He didn’t start last week after playing for second grade the previous day.
With his return, Liva Sili pushes to six.
