Football
1 August, 2025
Demons have nothing to lose against Warriors
For the Demons, it's the season that could have been.
They've shown brilliance in parts; they've shown courage and determination.
But depsite all this, they won't feature in the finals series this season, having not been able to get over the top of the opposition in any game, despite coming close on occasions.
For the Warriors, it still could be the season that was... the season that saw them progress deep into the finals, or maybe to the big dance itself?
This Saturday, Stawell will be pushing for entry into the top two and to send a message to opposing teams coming into finals that they are a serious threat to claim the cup.
But they aren't taking the Horsham side lightly – they can't afford to because, after all, the Demons have come close to toppling some of the bigger teams this season, including Nhill.
And the Demons have absolutely nothing to lose.
One person the Demons will have to contend with, though, this Saturday is league leading goal scorer Paul Summers, who after being held goalless against Nhill last week will be looking to again assert his dominance.
Last time the Demons and the Warriors met, Summers had an absolute day out, cracking double figures, booting 10 majors as he led his side to a 94-point win.
It was his biggest tally in a match this season and he'll be hoping for another big haul this Saturday.
Co-coach of Stawell, James Sullivan, said his side was approaching this game with caution and he addressed his side on Tuesday at training about the pending danger game.
"The Demons have had a few close encounters over the last few weeks, including the loss after the siren to the Horsham Saints as well," Sullivan said.
"As I have said all along, the Wimmera football league this year is exciting and it feels like anyone can beat anyone on the day so we absolutely won't be taking any side lightly and it will be full steam ahead this week."
With the league adopting a final-five format, with the top three teams getting a double opportunity, Sullivan said their focus for finals was to be among the three ladder leaders.
"While that is the focus now (for finals), it wasn't something we were looking at closely across the year, but in saying that we want to continue to develop, learn and progress our game style, which we have been doing over the last few weeks," he said.
But just like the coaches of many other teams in the league this year have reported, Sullivan said his side hadn't been putting together a four-quarter performance recently.
He's hoping that this might come this Saturday.
"We've been a bit inconsistent throughout each game, so for us (this Saturday) we will be focusing on playing the footy we want to play across the four quarters and getting a bit of that consistency," Sullivan said.
"We know if we do qualify for finals and you are playing the strong teams at that end of the year, you need to be as consistent as you can through the entire game."