Dawson: The group is very driven to go one better

EAST Perth coach Brian Dawson is confident that things will be different when his side meets Subiaco on Sunday in the second semi final.

The Lions have had the better of the Royals in both meetings in 2014, but Dawson says even though it’s the finals it’s important that they focus on one week at a time.

“It’s great that the finals are here; I guess all of us have sat here knowing for the last three of four weeks, where we were going to sit. Obviously it gives you the chance to plan ahead to some degree; equally you can’t take your focus off week to week either”. 

We’ve got to play better, there is no doubt about that, they’ve got hold of us both times, we’re well aware of that and there are some things I have to do better”, he said.

“The group is very driven to go one better, and it's great that we have an opportunity to do that and it’s just an opportunity at the moment, we’ve got to make the most of it from here".

“Everyone will probably rate us as favourites, I’m not sure that we necessarily should be. We’ve been probably even across the year, Subi have been always around the place and Swans have been there for a while and I certainly know full well that anything can happen in finals. Everyone’s got a chance in finals it’s very much on the day", Dawson said.

The coach was keen to credit the senior East Perth players for their commitment over the season.

“They’ve really run the show to a large degree and most of that core senior group have been around the joint for three, four years at least, some longer. Wulffy’s been there for almost forever, they’ve done a great job in really pushing the guy’s along and whoever’s come back to us they’ve certainly gone out of their way to make sure they understand what’s required”.

Dawson singled out the defense that have been dealt at times a bad hand, through injury, for their ability to stand up and combine well through challenging circumstances. 

“Our backs have been very good maybe a little unheralded and they’ve combined together really well and that hasn’t been easy because there’s been a fluid mix go through there. Week to week there’s been different changes in personnel that have gone through there regularly so getting that chemistry in a tight back six has not been something that’s possible”.

The coach also addressed questions of the amount of Eagles that will field the Royals team during finals. West Coast Eagles players had to play five games or more for East Perth to be eligible for finals.

“It will be somewhere between nine and twelve that will be available and we don’t know exactly yet”, Dawson said. 

“They’ll come and train as of probably today onwards. We look forward to that because it’s not something we’ve had throughout the whole year so it will be good to have them around the rest of the group and training together is certainly an advantage”.

"They’ve acquitted themselves very well whenever they’ve come back and often they’ve come back with some reason to be disappointed because they’ve missed out on an AFL game. But, to their credit they’ve really taken stock pretty quickly and they’ve got on with the job and they’ve certainly showed good commitment to East Perth”, he said.