Here's my preview of the decider on Sunday, for anyone not that closely acquainted with the Ron Massey Cup:
It's been a different year for the two sides competing this Sunday. Mounties have been nearly faultless in their relentless charge to take out the minor premiership. The Mulga only dropped two games all year, including a last round loss to a desperate Guildford side who had to win to make the 8. Asquith on the other hand, bumbled and fumbled their way to a top four finish, having a terrible patch of form in the middle to back end of the season after starting very positively.
Form is often so important heading into the finals, however Asquith have managed to make the Grand Final with very little going their way in the last month of the competition. A very poor run of form after the halfway mark of the competition had Asquith on the brink of falling into the dog fight of teams competing for 7th and 8th spot. Their saving grace was the teams chasing their spot, Blacktown, Auburn and Windsor also went through spells of inconsistency, and so Asquith never lost their grip on 3rd place. They ran out winners in the final round against Blacktown, the first time they've beaten their bogey side in three years in the competition, but then lost heavily to Wentworthville in the first week of the finals. That battle of the Magpies was a close grind for nearly 60 minutes, before the Asquith middles folded and Wenty ran in multiple tries to blow out the score lines.
They took on Blacktown again in week 2, and blew the Workers away with a clinical 50 minutes of football, after trailing 14-0, half an hour into the first half. Their GF qualifier against an in-form Windsor side was one of the games of the year for the Massey Cup. Asquith dropped the ball off the kick-off, and had centre Jeco Marketo sent to the sin-bin after 5 minutes, yet managed to be up 8-0 by the time he returned to the field. They were up 14-8 at half time, but let Windsor back into the game with back to back tries early in the second half. The two teams traded the lead multiple times as the clock counted down, until Aaron Groom played a brilliant short ball to Dylan McKeown, who beat the fullback and crashed over with 6 minutes remaining. They saw out the game to become the first team from the club to make a Grand Final in the competition.
Mounties run to the Grand Final was very similar in that they too had to go the long way round, after being upset by Windsor in the first week of the finals. It was another close game involving the Windsor Wolves, this time the boys from out west getting a win in controversial circumstances. Hooker Kurt Robinson sliced through for Mounties, drew the fullback and attempted to pass to one of the supporting Kennedy brothers, who was hauled down by a Windsor defender before catching the ball with the try line begging. Jeff Hartup blew the penalty, yet decided not to sit out the offending Windsor player, nor consider a penalty try. Mounties took the 2, and after dropping the ball from the kick off set, Windsor scored a try to take a lead they wouldn't relinquish.
They won comfortably in week 2 against a massive Auburn Warriors side, blowing them away 36-4, and faced Wenty last Sunday night at Leichhardt oval in another evenly matched GF qualifier. The first half was an exhibition of two well drilled teams, trying to defend their way to the big dance. Wenty took a penalty goal to go up 2-0 early in the half, but that was as much action as the scoreboard attendant saw until the clock was counting down the final ten minutes. Where the first half was two great sides refusing to give anything away, the second half was a scrappy affair of the same teams unable to get into attacking positions. With no team particularly looking the stronger, Mounties finally cracked Wenty's defence, with Gus Aiga scoring a try out wide. With minutes left on the clock, Dave Cahalane scored another try in the last play of the game to put a stamp on the win.
The last time these two sides played, Asquith threw away an 10 point lead in the last ten minutes, with an intercept pass thrown from a scrum on their own ten metre line, and fullback Jack Hawkins spilling a tame grubber, which was picked up by a Mounties player to score the winning try. Whilst Mounties took home the 2 points, there was a feel that they may not necessarily have been the better side on the day.
That game was back in round 13, however not much has changed between the two sides, who have kept relatively unchanged line ups since that clash. Both sides play a similar style of footy, which focuses on building pressure through completions and grinding the opposition into making mistakes. For Mounties, their hooker Kurt Robinson is brilliant at getting out from the ruck and playing at the line. Look for him to pin his ears back with support runners off his hip if any Asquith markers get caught off their feet. The Kennedy brothers are also both livewires, with great ball skills and quick feet at five-eighth and fullback.
Asquith's have a few strike weapons around the park. Francis Tuigamala is the biggest front rower in the competition, and quite literally bowls defenders out of the way and sets the Magpies on the front foot. Aaron Groom, perhaps the sides 'marquee' player, is insanely quick at halfback, and can catch a back rower with his show and go whilst looking for McKeown short or Hawkins out the back. Jeco Marketo will also be a handful, with incredibly fast feet considering the size of the bustling centre. It'll be a great battle between Marketo and his opposite centre, Dave Cahalane, who who I think is the best defensive centre in the competition.
I'm not willing to make a prediction score-wise, but I'll say I expect the game to be very close, with the winner not beyond doubt until the final whistle.
