SPOTSWOOD player-coach Chris O’Keefe, one of the premier onballers in the Western Region Football League division 1, declared himself a certain starter for Saturday’s grand final against Altona Vikings at Avalon Airport Oval.
O’Keefe strained his hamstring in the semi-finals and sat out last Saturday’s preliminary final as a precautionary measure.
He was moving freely on the sidelines at the weekend and is certain to return for the most important game of the year.
“I’ll be 100 per cent right to go. I was about 90 per cent right to play [last Saturday]. We haven’t taken any risks all year and it was too big of a risk to take today.
“If I got any more damage, I wouldn’t be able to play next week so we rolled the dice and luckily it came out in our favour.”
The Woodsmen had a number of willing takers for O’Keefe’s role of winning the in-and-under contests.
Tom Langlands, Torin Baker, Jai Audley and Elliott Wood were fierce around the stoppages.
Baker, dubbed the finals specialist by some teammates in the rooms post game, finished with five goals from the midfield.
“Our midfield guys were fantastic,” O’Keefe said. “They really stood up when I asked them to at different stages in the game.
“Their contested footy, work rate and defensive pressure were amazing.
“It starts there and it becomes infectious.”
The Woodsmen are preparing for their sixth grand final in a row.
O’Keefe said his side would gain an advantage from past experience, but he stuck with the party line that Altona would go in as warm favourite.
“The guys understand all the work that needs to go in for it to happen.
“They don’t give away premierships. We’re going to go in as underdogs. Altona, I’ve said for the last month, I think they’ve got one hand on it at the moment.
“We’ll recover, have a good week on the track and come out and give it our all next Saturday and hopefully execute better on the day.”
— Lance Jenkinson
