WGC Cranes District League First Grade Grand Final

This season’s WGC Cranes District League Grand Final features the teams that finished first and second in the ladder at the end of the regular season. Picton Rangers won that league title by ten points and had the Championship in the bag many weeks before the season finished.

The final League table would suggest Picton start this Grand Final as favourites. But recent form would give Corrimal the edge, especially as they have beaten Picton twice 1-0 in the last few weeks, both in the League and at the Semi-Final stage.

Picton did beat Corrimal 2-0 back in May, but after wrapping up the League title, they went on to lose four of the next five competitive matches they played in, and had failed to score in three successive games before coming back from 0-2 down to beat Helensburgh Thistle last weekend in the Preliminary Final.

That win last week showed a team capable of digging deep when they need to. It was the sort of resilient display they may well need against a Corrimal side that will come into this Grand Final full of confidence.

Corrimal Rangers have won eight of their last nine matches, including those two 1-0 wins against Picton. They may have scored fewer goals than Picton (60 to 53 over the regular season) and conceded many more (34 to just 21 from Picton’s solid defence), but Corrimal start the game as the in-form side from the District League.

Key players

Picton will start without top scorer Mitchell Hall, who picked up a second yellow card in the Preliminary Final, and will have to watch this one from the sidelines. Fortunately, their three scorers in the 3-2 win over Helensburgh last Saturday showed that Hall is not the team’s only man with an eye for goal. Daniel Goodhew has picked up 10 goals this term; Dayne Morley is on nine; and Jack Taseski, who scored the winner in the Preliminary Final, has now notched up eight for the season.

Corrimal also have a raft of players capable of scoring goals. Tony Dulevski, who scored the only goal in Corrimal’s win over Picton in the Semi Finals, has eight goals to his name this season, as does Frank Pierro, who also has the most appearances in a Corrimal shirt this season; and Luke Picciolini. Boris Surla is another with an eye for goal, having scored seven this term already.

Reserve Grade

Warilla Wanderers will start favourites for the Reserve Grade Grand Final, having topped the Ladder during the regular season, and beaten today’s other finalists Helensburgh Thistle twice in competitive matches already this term, including the 2-1 win in the Semi Finals.

Helensburgh can’t be discounted, though, and have run Warilla close in all three encounters between the two teams this season (Warilla have won 2-1 twice and the third tie was a 2-2 draw).

Warilla’s Semi Final win was enough to see them make the Grand Final, while Helensburgh have had a busy few weeks, beating Thirroul in the Qualifying Final and then Picton Rangers 1-0 in last week’s Preliminary Final.

Key players

Warilla need to watch out for Hayden Garrard, who has scored for Helensburgh every time the two sides have met this season. With eight goals, Garrard is Thistle’s top scorer, but they also have three players on seven for the season in Bradley Bell, Nicholas Shaw and Stephen Keep.

Warilla not only have an out and out goal scorer in Andrew Shiaxiates (17 goals to his name this season), but an extraordinary 22 players from their Reserve squad who have got their names on the scoresheet this season. The Wanderers’ goals can come from anywhere, as Helensburgh know to their cost, having conceded six goals in their three ties from six different players.

Youth Grade

The WGC Cranes District League Youth Grade produced the tightest of all finishes to the regular season, with Corrimal Rangers just coming out on top, one point ahead of Thirroul Thunder and four points above third place Wests Illawarra, today’s opponents in the Grand Final.

Wests have beaten Corrimal twice in recent weeks: a 1-0 Semi-Final win gave Wests their Grand Final spot; and a 2-1 win on the last day of the regular season.

The two sides amassed over 200 goals between them in the regular season, so there is enormous goal-scoring potential for this tie.

Wests come into the Grand Final on the back of five straight wins, so may consider themselves slight favourites, though any team with a player who can hit 50 goals in a season has their own reason to be confident, and Corrimal’s Kieran Duggan scored a hat-trick when his side beat Wests 4-2 earlier this term.

Key players

Kieran Duggan for Corrimal Rangers, with his extraordinary goal scoring ability. But Wests also need to watch Cody Jones, who notched 13 goals over the season and scored in Corrimal’s 2-1 defeat to Wests at the end of the regular season.

In Daniel Jorge (19 goals), Jordan Koroskoski (18 goals) and Kon Kandiles (15 goals, including the winner in the Wests’ 1-0 win over Corrimal in the Semi Finals), Wests have a formidable line-up, but Corrimal might also need to keep an eye on Daniel Djukic, three of whose seven goals this season have come against Corrimal Rangers.