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Emirates Western Force squad members Richard Brown, Mark Swanepoel and Filipe Manu will be looking to drive their teams to glory when ME Bank Stadium plays host to the 2009 KWIK Senior Competition Premier Grade Grand Final between Cottesloe and Palmyra on Sunday.
Brown and Swanepoel (Cottesloe) will be looking to emulate the good form they have shown in recent weeks for coach Ian Fowler’s team, which qualified for this weekend with a hard-fought 18-13 win over Nedlands in the Preliminary Final.
Following a directive from Wallabies management to play club rugby, Brown turned down requests from Sydney clubs to play in the NSWRU competition, preferring instead to return home to play for the club he has been a part of for the last four seasons. His decision to play in WA has been rewarded with a berth in the Grand Final.
Palmyra’s Manu has been a dynamic contributor throughout the season, and will need to be on-song to nullify the effect of the opposition backrow combination of Brown, Matt Aiken, Josh Gugich, and reserve Karl Leary.
PG Hampshire Award winner, Dave Cloete, and the Cottesloe backs will go head-to-head with the talented Palmyra backline, which includes winger Tajhon Mailata, who played one Super Rugby game for the Emirates Western Force and was the club competition leading try-scorer in 2009.
The Minor Premiers have struggled against Cottesloe in 2009, with the Seagulls claiming a 17-15 victory in round five before cruising to a more comfortable 33-10 win in round 14.
Despite losing three of their last six qualifying games, Palmyra showed their potential in disposing of Nedlands 43-10 in the Major Semi Final with an awesome display of running rugby.
Fowler said that having Brown in the squad was anything but a distraction for his side.
“Brownie is one of the boys; he has done a lot around the club over the last four years and we certainly welcome him into the side,” Fowler said at this morning’s RugbyWA Awards Breakfast.
“He’s a no-frills type character, and he has trained well with us.”
Palmyra coach Dave Ball said playing against the likes of Brown would be a good challenge.
“We want to play against him, who wouldn’t?” Ball said.
“If it were me, I would want to be out there – I’d want to have a crack at him!” Ball joked.
Kick off in the Premier Grade Grand Final is 3.30pm on Sunday.
Premier Grade Grand Final Teams:
S. Nankervis 1 J. Tioke
R. Johns 2 S. Silva
M.Darling 3 J. Renwick
K. Stringer 4 K. Fuluna
M.Battishall 5 D. Olive
J. Gugich 6 J. Viriki
R. Brown 7 G. Sutherland
M. Aiken 8 F. Manu
M. Swanepoel 9 D. Serukai
D. Cloete 10 Q. Austin
B. Mitchell 11 I. Vasu
R. Westaway (c) 12 K. Feaunati
S. Rarasea 13 F. Lolohea
T. Edwards 14 T. Mailata
S. Parker 15 S. Bowley
Reserves
J. Sims 16 F. Smith
T. McArthur 17 R. Salotti
K. Leary 18 C. Rankin
C. Brigden 19 R. Wakely
R. Hodson 20 R. Mitchell
T. Parks 21 R. Jones
D. Kirton 22 J. Falaniko
M. Bourke 23 C. Serukai
A. Mussell 24 S. Turnbull
S. Heinemann 25 Q. Tufoua
T. Santangeli 26 M. Lauti
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