Close attention: Mount Waverley’s James Raven gets the full treatment while marking against Sandown on Saturday. Picture: Sam Stiglec
MOUNT Waverley reserves will play for a third straight Southern Football League division 3 premiership on September 22.
The Mountain Lions came back from a 10-point half-time deficit to beat Sandown by 34 points in the major semi-final on Saturday.
Mountain Lions reserves coach Rob Tighello said his side had stood up this season with players repeatedly moving into the seniors.
"If the seniors are stretched you've got to help out," he said. "We have developed a few different players and pulled in kids from the thirds team.
"We have had a lot of different faces this season, which is the pleasing thing."
Tighello praised his players for lifting in the second half. He said that during the year the Mountain Lions had adopted a game plan that would stand up on the bigger grounds division 3 sides play on in the finals.
"We've tried to train a game style into our guys that stands up to finals, on bigger grounds.
"They came at us physically, which suited our players fine. We just weren't playing our best footy in that first half but we ran over them in the second half."
While Tighello credited his whole side for the win, several Mountain Lions including Shane Constantino, Jack Dunn, ruckman Sam Bartley and 100-goal full forward Andrew Meredith led the way to victory.
The Mountain Lions will face headaches at selection with several players a chance to come back into the side after missing the semi-final win due to injury.
Nick Collins, Chris Jeffries and Jackson Collins are expected to be available to play in the grand final. Tighello said his side would not only be playing for a piece of history in the grand final but also for their sponsors and supporters who had followed the side all season.
The SFL division 3 reserves grand final will be at Ben Kavanagh Reserve, Mordialloc, at 11.45am on Saturday, September 22.