Minor premier Macleod will use last year’s grand final loss as motivation for Saturday’s 2017 Meadows Greyhounds Division 1 grand final against Bundoora.
The Roos cemented their spot in this week’s decider after a thumping 106-point win over Northcote Park in the second semi final.
Despite heading into the grand final on the back of eight-straight wins, Macleod will have to break recent history to win the flag. The past five sides to have won the second semi have gone on to lose the grand final.
Weary of the recent trend, Roos coach Garry Ramsay admitted he had spoken about it with his players and changed the lead up to his side’s third consecutive grand final appearance.
“The side that has won the second semi has a horrible record in grand finals, we’ve identified that,” Ramsay told NFL.org.au.
“We’ve experienced it first-hand the last two years. We aren’t trying to avoid it, we’ve actually embraced it and this time around we’ve done a lot of things differently to what we did last year.
“The players had a full-scale match against each other on Saturday and went hard at each other and it was very physical. It was something different that I would suggest not too many sides have done before (with the week off).
“We need to improve from what we did. We’ve identified that other sides have been in our position and haven’t come home with the premiership, so it’s in the back of our minds that we’re actually the ones that need to improve.”
Ramsay was also adamant that having a host of players who have experienced the two very differing emotions after a grand final in the past two seasons “can’t hurt”.
“We understand that the high is really high and the low is really low. Hopefully we’ve learned from the experience,” he said.
“You can’t be just okay to win a grand final, you have to play at your best. Playing okay doesn’t win you premierships.”
Macleod will go into the match as favourite after finishing the season on top of the ladder and beating Bundoora in both of their home and away matches.
“We accept it (the favouritism),” Ramsay declared.
“We finished on top and we were the first team into the grand final. It’s the first time we’ve finished the home and away season as the best team, so we’ll embrace it,” he said.
“Both sides are very attacking, both sides will take the game on and both sides will rely on high skill level and execution.
“We’re confident that our best will win it, but we’re going to have to bring that best to the table on Saturday. Anything under our best and we can get beaten.”
Liam Brandt, who has been sidelined with a quad injury since Round 12, is in line to return for the grand final after midfield counterpart Josh Totino sustained a knee injury in the second semi final.
Brandt also had an interrupted preparation ahead of the 2015 grand final, before winning the best on ground medallion in the win over Greensborough.
“He’s a chance, but I think we have a few options,” Ramsay said.
“We’ll work it out after training on Tuesday night after we see who gets through and how they train. The decision will be made by then
