Player Column – Cory Dell’Olio Preliminary Final

LAST Sunday was excellent reward for everyone involved. We got back to playing some good football and now head into this Sunday’s game with some confidence but of the understanding Subiaco will be extremely motivated to respond after losing to Peel.

Subiaco didn’t win 19 games for no reason and we know we need to be at our absolute best to compete on Sunday.

But it is very exciting to know that if we win we are in the Grand Final. Since 2009 this is the deepest I have got in any finals campaign so to play in a game with a Grand Final the result is great. The group have put a lot of work in over the last three years and we deserve to be in the position we are to even have the chance to play in a Grand Final.

It’s definitely going to be a fascinating game with the whole season on the line for both teams. Subi have won 19 out of 21 this year and wouldn’t want to be finish up now but saying that we have won 17 of 22 and we feel the same way. Both teams will be cracking in on Sunday for sure and it will be a great spectacle for WAFL footy.

Not only ourselves but I think every WAFL club looks up to Subiaco with the way they go about things. It is very impressive how they have continually been a force of the comp and win the amount of games they do year in year out. Saying that we as a club really try and focus on the way we play and the way we can win, obviously we look at Subiaco’s strengths but we think the best chance we have of winning is making sure we play to our full ability and own strengths.

Amazingly, before this year the only team I had played in a WAFL final was Subiaco so to come up against them on Sunday again is going to be good. Obviously we got a couple of wins against them in 2009 but they did do a good job on us in 2011 in my last WAFL final up until this year. Both those years are a long time ago and not too many blokes from either side would still be out there so to me it’s pretty irrelevant.

It is obviously nice to receive some personal recognition for my year like being named in the Team of the Year and it is something I am proud of especially with missing last year and having the unknown thoughts of being able to contribute in my head for a lot of pre-season and even throughout the early parts of the season. But no doubt the reason I came back to SFFC was to play in games like this Sunday.

With the knowledge that I have only one-two years of footy left in me at this level and with the club, I am very much excited to be a part of the finals campaign and hopefully go a step further than we did last year. I can’t wait for Sunday now.