NORTH Ballarat City coach Rob Waters admits his side was found out by a more ferocious, physically stronger side on Saturday.
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While conceding his side was outclassed in most facets, it was the opponent’s superiority in terms of hunger and desire that left Waters searching for answers.
“I thought we were good in the first half, our pressure was good around the ball but it fell away after that,” he said.
“I reckon they were tougher than us, they were just more hungry. They really attacked the ball hard.”
As comprehensive as the victory was for Redan, coach Eammon Gill was adamant his side not get ahead of itself.
After all, it was only two years ago when the Lions did the same thing in the first week of finals.
Redan smashed North City by 41 points in the qualifying final of 2013 and then dropped the next two matches to miss the grand final.
That included a 70-point humiliation to North City in the preliminary final – a 111-point turnaround.
“I was really rapt with how we played as a team, it was one of our better performances,” Gill said
“We put a big emphasis on hard ball gets and it showed.”
The Lions will arguably go in as favourites to beat Darley at Eastern Oval next Saturday; even though they lost to the Devils just last week.
However, there will be far more on the line for Redan this time around, given it essentially had nothing to play for last week and Darley was fighting for third spot.