Old Collegians coach Alex Rokobaro has challenged his side to channel the heartbreak of years gone by in their bid for Premier Grade glory.
Old Colls enter Saturday’s grand final as underdogs against reigning premiers Burnside but showed they’ll be no easy beats after grinding out a 25-17 elimination final win over Brighton last weekend.
“We knew what we were in for against Brighton and it’s hard to shift momentum when you’re 17-0 down but I’m really stoked with how our boys stayed in the fight,” Rokobaro said.
“The Tigers finished strong and were obviously trying to push for that penalty try but we hung on.
“We’ve a lot of boys who’ve played and lost in the first few weeks of finals so this is huge for us.
“Full respect to Brighton because they haven’t missed a final since 2017 and they’ve been a benchmark team for us for a while, as has Burnside.
“But we want to be in the conversation with those two as a top club in this competition and we’ve worked hard to get there.”
Old Colls hasn’t yet tasted victory over Burnside in 2023 but Rokobaro will draw inspiration from the success of his club’s U18 boys outfit, who ran rampant in their 69-0 grand final win last week.
“It’s exciting looking at that side and seeing the future of our club in action – keen for that second generation of Old Colls players coming in,” Rokobaro said.
“But we know Burnside are a good side, they’re well coached and they’ve been great all year, so for us, it’s believing we can perform on that level and show we’re a great club too.
“Our goal is to always move forward and like I said, we’ve played semi finals the past few years and missed out. Those losses hurt and we’ve got guys in the program keen to turn it around.”
