Roosters go in unchanged
North Ballarat will go into Friday night's VFL Grand Final with the same team that helped it defeat Collingwood by 61 points last week.
The Roosters will field 16 players that were a part of the 2008 Grand Final success, with Shannon Watt, Corey Jones, Aaron Edwards, Marcus White, Stevie Dinnell and Ed Lower welcome additions.
While excited about the prospect of winning back-to-back premierships, coach Gerard Fitzgerald says the focus around the club has been more about continued improvement in 2009.
"We've tried to not worry about last year too much, we just said we wanted to set the bar fairly high at our club this year and try and get better in all aspects of our organisation." Fitzgerald said from Etihad Stadium yesterday.
Eureka Stadium will host the team's final training session tonight, with North Melbourne's aligned players having participated in a light skills session at Arden Street this morning.
The match is set to be Shannon Watt's last at a professional level with the 28 year-old announcing his retirement before the Kangaroos round 21 clash against St Kilda.
After 155 AFL games, Watt will look to end his career on the perfect note with a premiership, but will face the arduous task of corralling one of the Bullants' dangerous forwards. Cameron Cloke and Brad Fisher have both been in strong form in attack and could prove the perfect match-up for the retiring veteran.
At the other end of the ground, the Roosters will rely heavily upon Edwards, Michael Wundke, Jones and Josh Smith to kick the majority of the goals. The four North Melbourne representatives booted 14 majors between them last week, and were pivotal to North Ballarat's second half dominance.
For Fitzgerald it's clear a tough battle lies ahead, but the 52 year-old remains adamant the best team will salute.
"We're just focusing on trying to play well. Two very good in form sides are going to play a good brand of footy on Friday night."
North Melbourne supporters are encouraged to get behind the Roosters in their quest for a second VFL premiership. Tickets for Friday night's game at Etihad Stadium are just $20 for adults, and FREE for children under 15. The first bounce will take place from 7.10pm, with the TAC Cup Grand Final kicking off at 4.10pm.