After a season which began slowly and gradually developed steam, the Goulburn Stags have claimed the STFA All Age Men minor premiership.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
As the defending champions, the Stags got off to a mixed start in 2020 as the style of new coach Tony Moffitt didn't click with the playing group.
Moffitt eventually left the club amicably about halfway through the season, at which point former coach and club president Craig Norris took up the reins once again.
A return to the style of football with which they are familiar seems to have worked for the Stags, who remain undefeated in the three weeks since the men's competition split.
"We're pretty happy, the boys have been coming good since about mid-season," Norris said.
"They've found their groove and got going again."
The battle for the minor premiership was close, as the Stags' slow start saw them lag behind the Goulburn Strikers for most of the regular season.
The Stags defeated the Strikers 5-3 on October 3 to avenge an early season defeat and set up a scintillating clash in the first round of finals.
"We're as confident as you can be going into a finals series," Norris said.
- Also read: Goulburn High School Cross Country | PHOTOS
"We're playing good football, happy with how we're playing. We switched the result on the strikers but there's no saying they can't do the same to us."
While their offense has been searing in recent weeks, Norris said the Stags are working on tightening up their defence and not worrying about the Strikers.
"We need to concentrate on our own game. If we do the things we want to do right, we should be fine," he said.
"We're very happy with our attack, Aaron Swanson's been scoring three almost every week. The boys have been playing with a smile on their face and when they play like that they're a hard group to stop."
Despite the challenging start to the season, Norris said the team never lost faith in their ability and believed a top two finish was always possible.
"We were always aiming for a top two finish, that was our goal all along," he said.
"You want to avoid the tricky third-fourth playoff and give yourself a chance. As far as things go, the season's played out how we hoped. We got the minor premiership on for-against so it wasn't resounding, but it was nice icing on the cake."
While the rematch against the Strikers is his immediate focus, Norris is also wary of the threat posed by Crookwell Red and the Wollondilly Soldiers, who finished third and fourth respectively.
The loser of the first-versus-second semi-final this weekend will play the winner of the third-versus-fourth clash in the preliminary final.
"Crookwell and Wollondilly do pose a threat, it's not a two horse race by any stretch of the imagination," Norris said.
"We're keeping an eye on those two sides ... we're looking over our shoulder as well, but hopefully we get the job done this weekend and Strikers can worry about them."
The STFA finals will get underway this weekend and run for three weeks, with the grand final set to take place on October 31 at the Goulburn Workers Arena.
While you're with us...
Did you know the Goulburn Post is now offering breaking news alerts and a weekly email newsletter? Keep up-to-date with all the local news: sign up here.
