COACH Peter Hooper believes Warilla are ready to seize on their opportunity after a rollercoaster Group Seven week.
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The Gorillas piled on 70 points against wooden spooners Milton-Ulladulla in the final round, but left Mollymook feeling flat, believing they’d failed in their bid to make up the points differential on Shellharbour.
It was only on Monday afternoon, after reviewing the season’s scores, that it was determined Warilla had actually done enough to leapfrog the Sharks into third and secure two finals chances. Warilla’s differential finished at 280, 17 better than Shellharbour’s after their crushing 42-12 loss to minor premiers Gerringong.
After an early exit last year, the Gorillas have overcoming suspensions and a deduction for using an unregistered player.
Hooper has called on the players to continue their late-season momentum at Jamberoo on Sunday.
“I’ve never been in a dressing room where you’ve scored 70 points and feel flat,” he said.
“We wanted to give ourselves every opportunity and we’d been listening to the radio for the Gerringong-Shellharbour game, so we knew what the situation was. Or at least we thought we did.
“But we’ve got the double chance now, it’s a reward for the way the boys have put it together. They’ve really taken on the challenge after the way we started and now we’ve got to execute it during the finals.”
GROUP SEVEN
Qualifying semi-final
Sunday (2.45pm)
JAMBEROO v WARILLA
Kevin Walsh Oval