LAST TIME: Hepburn 10.12 (72) d Beaufort 8.12 (60), round 8, 2017
GOALS – Hepburn: A. Burns 3, A. McKay 3, B. McKay, J. Brown, M. Watt, A. Ware. Beaufort: L. Murray 4, J. Duke 3, T. Stapleton.
BEST – Hepburn: A. McKay, S. Asa Leausa, M. Watt, D. Rees, J. Liversidge, L. Santurini. Beaufort: M. Foster, L. Murray, T. Stapleton, C. Drew, J. Trigg, J. McDermott.
Ahead of every grand final, it’s always an interesting exercise to see which team has more players that have been there and lifted the cup.
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Sometimes it’s pretty even between the two finalists, but not this year.
Beaufort will run out on Saturday without a Central Highlands Football League senior premiership player in its ranks.
Hepburn will have plenty, with 12 of last Sunday’s preliminary final outfit having played in at least one successful grand final.
Beaufort coach Rohan Brown didn’t seem too concerned by those facts and pointed to a number of his players having won premierships with other teams in other competitions.
“There’s a bit of experience there, which the boys will utilise for sure,” he said.
Brown said he wasn’t concerned by the Burras having a lot more players with experience on the league’s biggest stage.
Hepburn has won five senior premierships since 2004, with the Crows chasing their first since 1996.
“To be honest, I don’t think it comes down to it. Come 2.45pm, I think that’s all forgotten and we will just go out there, give it our all and play the way we want to play,” he said.
Hepburn coach Jason Olver hopes it’s an advantage for his outfit, with many of the players in the side having featured in multiple flags during their time at the club.
“We just enjoy the week. I know when we first got there in 2004, the nerves were so big and sometimes it was sort of unbearable for a lot of the players,” Olver said.
“Now it’s more about just enjoying it. We’ve put a lot of work into it – and so have Beaufort – and we’ve got to the last game of the year and it’s just fantastic to be here. It’s a privilege. We can’t wait for Saturday to start and may the best team win.”
The two teams have met once this season, with the Burras getting the result by 12 points in round eight.
That game was played at Hepburn, with the hosts debuting former AFL star Nick Dal Santo on that occasion.
The win was part of a 15-game winning sequence for Hepburn, which heads into the grand final without defeat since round three.
Beaufort, like its opposition this weekend, has only lost two games in 2017. The first came in round seven at the hands of reigning back-to-back premiers Springbank, a week before the loss to the Burras.
The Crows were the more impressive of the preliminary final winners, with a 73-point victory over the Tigers coming a day before the Burras beat Buninyong by 15 points.
Win or lose on Saturday, Olver will step down from the Hepburn job, while Brown has committed to a second season at the helm of Beaufort in 2018.
Prediction: Beaufort.
