In honour of the upcoming finals across most major sporting codes, we have decided to look at some of the teams who will be representing Yass this year. 

The Magpies enjoyed a great amount of success this year. Their first grade, reserve grade, ladies’ league tag and women’s open tackle sides all made it into the finals. 

Assistant coach of first grade Steve Naughton said that the Magpies were about where they expected to be after returning to the competition last year. 

“The initial goal was to make the finals in the second year. Obviously now [that] we’re in the finals, we want to go a bit further and obviously reset those goals,” he said. 

“We had the tough first year, but we expected things to be better the second year.” 

The Redbacks endured a difficult season this year. Of their five grades across senior male and female competitions, only the men’s third and tenth grades reached the finals. 

Coach of the both sides, Grant Taylor, said that he was impressed with the tenth grade side having done so well considering the number of newcomers to the team, particularly those fresh out of youth soccer. 

Of the thirds, Taylor said that it was “a pretty successful season after a slow start.”

He believes that they could have been the minor premiers had they taken their chances in some of the close losses. 

The Roos came into this season under a cloud of uncertainty. Injuries and players relocating meant that many team members were new.

Coach Terry Lemon expressed at the start of the year that he was hopeful the players could gel quickly and perform to the same high standard of the years before. 

“When you have so many changes to a side at the start of a season, when you’re trying to get players to gel and bond together, it’s come together rather quickly,” he said. 

“Quietly confident” is how Lemon described his feelings ahead of finals, and he continued to say that he believes that his team will be able to dominate if they can successfully bring all aspects of their game together.