THE Ararat Rats will break a four year finals' drought this weekend after locking in fifth position on the Wimmera Football League ladder with victory against Stawell on Saturday.
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The Rats were made to work right to the final siren against a determined Warriors' side, with the 11.11 (77) to 10.7 (67) win enough to secure the club's first finals' berth since 2010.
Minyip/Murtoa held up its end of the bargain, knocking reigning premier Dimboola out of calculations with a 29-point victory.
Joint-coach Andrew Louder said it may not have been Ararat's prettiest win, but coming away with the four points was all that mattered.
"I was a bit worried that Saturday was going to be a real danger game for us. David and I knew that Stawell would throw everything it could to try and beat us," he said.
"It was always going to be a tough contest and yes we needed Dimboola to lose, but we still had to win our game and that was the main focus not worrying about what else was happening in the Wimmera."
It was a bright start for the Rats at Central Park with the opening goal going to spearhead Aaron Searle, however there were troubling signs for Louder and Hosking from that point on with the Warriors booting five of the next six majors to lead by 20 points at the first change.
Louder said his side handed Stawell a lead far too easily.
"I thought our first 10 minutes were okay, but then we seemed to just relax and Stawell got a run on which caused us to lose composure," he said.
"We lost structure and our leaders out there weren't able to just stop the rot, slow things down and take control.
"Within five minutes they were three goals up on us because we just didn't keep our heads, so quarter time came at a really good time."
After regrouping during the break, momentum began to shift in the Rats' favour, with Harry Ganley finding plenty of space to drive the ball forward on numerous occasions and Jake Robinson's foot speed proving to be an X-factor for the visitors.
Tyler Cronin's second major of the afternoon reduced the margin to 13 points three minutes in, before a melee broke out on the wing halfway through the term that resulted in a double 50-metre penalty gifting Will Bell his first goal of the year from point blank range, which had Ararat within striking distance.
Star midfielder Daniel Mendes put the Rats back on a level playing field at the 17-minute mark, however a late goal to the Warriors gave them back a six point buffer at the main break.
"Looking at the stats at halftime showed that we'd had a lot of the ball and a lot of inside-50s during the second quarter, but we were just not kicking to our forwards good enough," Louder said.
“Our skill by foot is still not where it needs to be, we are putting it on our forwards’ heads and not allowing them to run onto it. The way we deliver it allows the opposition’s defenders to spoil too easily.
“We changed things around a bit in the third, we threw Beau (Cosson) on a wing and Jack (Ganley) to centre half forward, played our talls a bit higher up and left a couple of smalls further back which allowed the forward line to open up.”
The positional changes worked in Ararat’s favour, with Jacob Bates scoring the first of the second half, while Jack Ganley’s back-to-back goals lifted his team into the lead.
When Cronin put the Rats 21 points ahead with a brilliant snap goal on the run, the visitors threatened to run away with the contest, however the Warriors weren’t done with yet and hit back with the final two majors of the quarter to set up an intriguing final term showdown.
The pressure was on throughout the fourth quarter, with both backlines withstanding counter attacks. Jake Williamson led Ararat’s charge, clearing the ball with his penetrating kicks and eventually helping his team over the line in the thrilling 10-point win.
Skipper Alan Batchelor warmed up for September action with a strong performance in the midfield and was named best afield.
Louder praised the efforts of his charges during the clutch moments and said at no stage did the Rats go into their shell and try and save the match.
“We are an attacking side and we had to keep doing that regardless of the score line — seriously their effort was outstanding,” he said.
“As frustrated as you can get during the quarter as coaches because we can see things that need to be done or players out of position, we never once questioned their endeavour and effort.
“The pressure was pretty high and that is the sort of thing that is going to be on right from the first bounce come finals.
“As of now there is no such thing as being able to play one, two or even three quarters. If you can’t play four quarters, you are not going to win a finals’ game.
“We have the capability to do it, we just have to believe in ourselves.”
Ararat will meet Minyip/Murtoa in the elimination final on Sunday at Horsham City Oval.