Either way, history will be made come Sunday night. Neither of these two clubs have won a final before.
The Vipers have lost their previous 3 elimination games, including a loss from this exact position, back in the inaugural 2016 season.
The Devils are playing in their first final ever. A massive goal reached in the significant list repair job coach Bernardi has put together over the course of several years now. A long period of suffering finally over.
The Vipers will justifiably go in as strong favourites. But the Devils’ best is certainly capable of defeating the Vipers’ worst.
MILESTONES
50 Games
- Harry Morrison (Lethal Vipers)
- Pat Lipinksi (Lethal Vipers)
Form Guide
You’d be annoyed if you were the Vipers and you lost this weekend. That’s all I’ll say on the form front.
Nonetheless, the Devils have put up three scores better than the worst Vipers score during that run. So if the Vipers play at their worst, a Devils win is entirely possible.
Last time they met…
Wasn’t that long ago – round 20 in fact. A round that saw the Vipers drop their worst score since the byes, almost 200 points worse than their next worst during that period. And yet they still won comfortably because the Devils dropped a real stinker – they only had one player hit triple figures, Connor Rozee with a 106.
But the Devils do have some recent success they can look to. A round 11 clash between these two ended in a win for the Devils. They had seven tonnes that day, all of which were needed, as they also had to overcome a 25 from George Hewett and an alarming 19 from Harris Andrews. The Vipers had the two highest scorers on the ground, but they also had 11 players, half their squad, score less than 70 that week.
Path to Victory
Round 11 is what a Devils victory looks like. The Vipers are a boom/bust team, and they’ve been booming a lot lately. But 11 scores under 70 will just about kill you in this competition.
But this is really tricky for the Devils, there’s no way round it. Last week does offer plenty of hope though – a score of 1835 has been enough to win plenty of finals in years past.
First things first, the stars need to shine. Or, at least some of them. They survived a 40 from Shai Bolton, a 52 from Nic Martin, and a 62 from Patrick Cripps last weekend, so they can suffer some disappointing showings and still put up a winning score. But a return to form for those three would be half the battle. From there, their guns from last week need to maintain the level. Butters and Rozee set the standards for everyone else. Triple figures scores are needed here.
Three somewhat out-of-the-box performances last weekend stand out – Luke Jackson’s 3 vote winning 149, Horne-Francis tonning up, and Nick Hind’s timely 113. These three are often up and down, and they were all up last week. Strong scores again from at least 2 of the 3 would help immensely.
The Vipers just need to avoid any disastrous injuries or surprise donuts, really. Last week was the closest the Devils have come to the Vipers since the byes, and it still wasn’t enough. The Vipers outscored the Devils by almost 450 points in round 16. There is a gulf in class between these two, and for the Vipers, they’ve never had a better chance to secure that first finals victory.
