Western Crusaders hopes of a ninth championship in a row remain alive after a massive Gridiron Victoria division 1 semi final win on Saturday.
The Crusaders, who have lost just one match for the season, made a statement in their semi final win against the Southern Vikings.
The score was 63-0 at half time when the match was called off, putting the Crusaders through to another grand final.
Crusaders’ Tyson Garnham said every year the aim was to make it through to the final game of the season.
“It’s exciting stuff,” he said. “It means the same every year and hopefully we can go out and perform this week.
“We didn’t manage to go through undefeated but we’ve done it this way before.”
Garnham said the back part of the season had tested them with injuries and unavailability.
They had to forfeit their division 2 team in one round.
Garnham said having a loss, their first in the last three to four years, wasn’t the worst thing for them.
“It made everyone go OK, we can’t take things lightly,” he said.
“Up to that point we’d had some relatively easy games. It gave everyone a wake up call that we had to cut out the errors and start focusing.
“The last few weeks we’ve looked to get healthy and prepared for this game coming up. We’ve been able to carry some good form going forward.”
On Saturday, the Crusaders were switched on in the semi final against the Vikings.
Garnham said they went into the game focusing on what they were doing.
“It was more about clearing up some of our mistakes and trying to play errorless football,” he said.
“It was a pretty good showing and the game was over by half time. It was good to get out there and try a few things out.
“There was no second half as they called the game at half time.”
Garnham said despite the game ending early, they were still able to get a number of players on the field and rest some others.
The Crusaders will face the Geelong Buccaneers in the grand final.
The Buccaneers are the only side to beat the Crusaders this season.
“They have one win against us and we’ve beaten them twice during the season,” he said.
“We beat them last year in a good grand final. We need to be on top of our game, it should be a good game.”
Garnham said most of the side had played in grand finals and premierships before, but for a few it would be their first opportunity.
He said the side’s experience would be key for them in the grand final.
It’ll be a big day for the Crusaders with their under-18 side also through to the grand final.
The Crusaders beat the Vikings, 38-6.
The Crusaders will face the Croydon Rangers in the grand final.
Both grand finals will be on Saturday, but the location had not been confirmed by deadline.
