The Western Mustangs will face a strong challenge going into this weekend, as they take on the undefeated Redcliffe Dolphins in the first of two FOGS Under 20 Cup semi-finals.
“We won’t change what we’ve been doing all year, we’ll just be concentrating on what we do well which is the real simple things,” Mustangs coach Dean Bosnich said.
“We know they will be tough up the middle and around the rucks, so a big focus will be there defensively, and we play a simple footy and attack so we won’t be changing anything there.”
The Mustangs finished their impressive season with just one loss and draw, on their way to claiming a finals spot. Coach Bosnich attributes simplifying the game to their success so far.
“We had a poor result in the first match, so I think we probably gave the boys too much to think about,” he said.
“We went right back to basics really, and we’ve always had a really big concentration on defence.
“Now we just have a few standards in defence we try to achieve each game, and we try to lay our attacks right off the back of that.”
As well as a simplified approach to the game, Bosnich credits three key players for stepping up throughout the season.
Captain Todd White for his ability to play anywhere on the field and leading by example, lock Tom Boland for his aggression and enthusiastic play which helps feed energy to the rest of the squad and Jazz Namara who he credits with consistently getting involved in clutch plays and strong runs when the team needs him.
“Those three kids have … laid the foundation, and then the rest of the team feeds off them a lot,” Bosnich said.
While there are plenty of reasons to celebrate the season, Bosnich understands that their toughest test is still ahead and won’t rest on his laurels.
“Redcliffe are undefeated and they’re a really strong club and I think both of us are the only clubs to have 18s and 20s in the semi-finals,” he said.
“We’re just going to throw everything we got at them; we’re not even thinking about the possibility of a grand final,” Bosnich said.
“We’re just going to try to play a really enthusiastic and aggressive game and take it to them, and we’ll hopefully get a result but we’re not really even looking past the first five minutes of the game really.”
Follow all the scores and see the final team line-ups for this game with QRL Live (link below)