The question for Gunnedah heading into Saturday’s preliminary final against Walcha is, Can they rectify the mistakes that led to losses against the Rams this season?
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The Red Devils will tackle the Rams at Walcha for the right to play Pirates in the grand final.
The Rams have won both encounters against the Red Devils this season. The first game there was only eight points in it, but in the second the Rams outclassed them.
“We know where we went wrong both times against them,” Gunnedah coach Jason Waerea said after witnessing his side blow Narrabri away in the minor semi-final.
He had the day before watched a brave Rams narrowly go down to Pirates in the major semi-final, and reiterate what an amazing backline they have – the best in the competition in his view.
“We’ve got to contain them,” he said.
Marveling at their speed outwide, he spoke about trying to force them “back on the inside”. They can’t afford to let them go wide, as Pirates learnt last week.
“When they had the ball they were pretty devastating and Pirates couldn’t stop it,” Waerea said.
“We need to contain the ball in the midfield, force [Simon] Newton to go inside.”
Having finished fifth on the ladder to the Rams’ second, the Red Devils know they go into the clash as underdogs, but they don’t mind.
Some probably viewed them as underdogs to beat the Blue Boars after they had toppled Moree, but they did – and in emphatic fashion - to be on the cusp of their first grand final in a long time.
It’s been over a decade since the Red Devils last played in a preliminary final.
“We’re very excited to be in it,” Red Devils skipper Jamie Mitchell said.
He’s one of only a couple of the current side to have played finals with Gunnedah before and said they will have to play at their best to earn a shot at winning their first title in almost 50 years.
“They’re a really good team, they showed that when they pushed Pirates,” Mitchell said.
“They’re a very fit team and they get around the park well. And they’ve got some quality backs.”
So to do a Red Devils side steered by Mitchell.
Adam Mooney has been in sensational form at inside centre, while Nacienele Tavaga and Aisea Raitala have added an element of strike power out wide that the Red Devils haven’t possessed in recent seasons.
“It’s good to have those guys to break the game open,” Mitchell said.
“Sometimes you get stuck in an arm wrestle.”
One of the keys to the win over the Blue Boars was their start, with the Red Devils jumping out to a 26-nil lead midway through the first half.
“Definitely this year it was our best start,” Mitchell said.
“We’ve been a bit slow [starting] during the season. That sort of set the platform for the rest of the game.”
The cornerstone though was the scrum, the Red Devils deriving a lot of momentum and confidence from the dominance they exerted at scrum-time.
“The scrum was very good. It put them under pressure and we got good clean ball,” Mitchell said.
They’ll be looking to do the same against the Rams.
The forwards in general were dominant against the Blue Boars and Waerea indicated that’s where they will look to take on the Rams.
Their forwards are light and fast and our forwards like contact. That’s where we’ve got to play them
- Jason Waerea
“Their forwards are light and fast and our forwards like contact. That’s where we’ve got to play them,” Waerea said.
