SWFL 2022: Augusta-Margaret River eye minor premiership opportunity at Payne Park

Augusta-Margaret River will be crowned SWFL minor premiers for a second consecutive season if they substantially defeat Bunbury on Sunday afternoon at Payne Park. Heading into the final round of matches, South Bunbury (163.76 per cent) holds a slender .015 percentage and points differential advantage over the Hawks but they have a bye this weekend. If the Hawks win by between five and eight goals over the Bulldogs, they will have a weekend off in the first week of the finals before hosting the winner of the qualifying final between South Bunbury and Bunbury. Should the Hawks lose, they will host Bunbury in the qualifying final at Gloucester Park, with South Bunbury enjoying a week off instead. The looming scenario is not foreign for Augusta-Margaret River coach Matt Jamieson. Over the past few seasons under his guidance, the Hawks have had to win at either Payne or Kelly Park in the final round of the home-and-away season to deepen their finals run. “It is quite ironic isn’t it? I did think about that the other day,” Jamieson said. “Last year we went to Kelly Park to try and get top spot after chasing Bunbury all year — and in 2022, it has been chasing another Bunbury team (South Bunbury) to get top spot. “I look forward to it and so are the boys. The Bunbury teams are always pretty strong, so to beat the Bulldogs and get the minor premiership would be great.” Bunbury enter this game knowing they cannot move from third spot, but Bulldogs coach Jamie Nani is keen for a solid performance after a disappointing loss against the Tigers last Saturday at Hands Oval. “The breeze in the first quarter was very solid and I thought we did pretty well to hold them to three goals,” Nani said. “However, in the middle part of the game we were a bit average and they were pretty slick. And in the third quarter obviously it opened up and it was all over. “At the end of the game we added a bit of respectability back on the scoreboard, but that was about it. They were too sharp for us.” With such a resilient group of players at his disposal, all thoughts in the Bulldogs camp post-game are about putting things right against the Hawks. “It was very much about move on and do whatever we can to get ourselves right for Augusta-Margaret River,” Nani said. “Yeah, we cannot go up or down on the ladder, but you do not want to go into finals footy on the back of two losses.”