The Cherrypickers Under 18s wrapped up the regular season two weeks early due to a lack of teams across the group, but they are using the extra time off to prepare for the finals.
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The boys will be making the most of the break to work on areas of weakness with the semi-finals kicking off in three weeks.
As the side heads into the finals they are cheering having finished first on the ladder and putting them in a good position to take out the Group Nine competition.
“The club is extremely proud of this teams efforts this year and extremely thankful to the coaching staff that this team has we look forward to following them them through the finals,” coach Gary Lucas said.
“They’ve been a good bunch of boys to work with. This makes training easier. All of them are willing to learn new stuff.”
With three weeks off the boys are working on their fitness leading into the finals.
“We are working on fitness as we have three weeks off which is not ideal leading into a semi final,” Lucas said.
“Also there will be a couple of sessions on defence and ball work.”
Manager Brad Pettit said that despite the uncertainty of the team at the start of the year the side has come together seamlessly.
“We were unsure coming into the year about how the two sides would go together but they have blended really well and have had a great season together only losing once,” Pettit said.
“If we can pick up our defence over the next couple of weeks the finals will be looking really good for us.”
Captain Jacob Lucas believes the dedication and hard work the boys have put in at training and throughout the season is the reason behind such a successful season.
“We have had success this year because the boys have been turning up to training week in week out and giving 100 percent,” Jacob said.
“The difference has been a lot of new faces that have joined with the old ones and have added that X factor we have needed to be successful.”
“We have had two weeks off before our first finals game so a bit out of game practice but mostly excited,” Lucas said.