Albany coach Jamie Ramm hopeful young stars can stand up in elimination final showdown with Royals

Albany coach Jamie Ramm says the performances of his younger brigade will play a major role in their clash with a seasoned Royals outfit in the elimination final showdown at Retravision Stadium on Saturday. The Lions have two victories over the Sharks this season, including an 86-point demolition in their most recent round 12 encounter. But the Sharks beat them by 43 points in round seven. The round seven clash signified more than just a win for the expansion club — it was the first time the Sharks had tasted victory against the Lions. Since then, the Sharks have won three of their last eight matches in the lead up to finals and were narrowly pipped to third place by the Lions in the final round of the regular season. “I’d love to see some of our young guys get up and play really well,” Ramm said. “Because our senior players should play well anyway, Cam Jones hardly plays a bad game, Kane Pinney doesn’t play a bad game and Isaac (Baum) as well. “But that’s no different to them, their good players do the same. “When your younger bottom-end players that are still developing play well, it completes your side and that’s what we really need to make happen on the weekend.” Ramm said his side would face a tough test against a seasoned team with a wealth of big-game experience. “It’s going to be a tough game because Royals are pretty good at winning finals and grand finals,” he said. “We’re going to be up against it but I think it probably comes down to who controls it more. They’ve got some very skilful players and senior heads that know what they’re doing. “I think that will be a key to it, how much we allow their good players to have the ball in their hands.” Ramm said the Sharks were set to welcome back forward Matthew Galantino, while captain Tait McLean and Kane Pinney were also probable inclusions. Lions coach Andrew Ruck said he believed the elimination final would be a vastly different contest to their recent round 12 encounter. “It will be a completely different game, they’ve got a couple of match winners up forward,” he said. “If they have the luxury of getting a couple of mids back as well then it’s going to be a very good game of footy, I reckon. “We’ve just got to stop coughing up easy goals, we’ve been giving away free kicks in front of goals. “If we give away goals to free kicks then we’re just hurting ourselves, some of them are 50:50, I’m not sure if it’s a technique issue or something else.” Ruck is hopeful his side can draw on their finals experience to outlast the Sharks but he said he was not underestimating the opposition’s top-end talent. “They’ve got guys like Peakey (Brett Peake) who can just go to another level so it will be interesting to see how he goes,” Ruck said. “They have definitely got a few avenues to goal that they haven’t had in the past so it’s going to be a really good game.” Ruck said 2021 Kleemann medallist Cameron Allison was likely to return for the final, while pacey duo Brandon Elliott and Tyreice Brown would also be in contention. Clever forward Jayson Ford is still nursing a broken jaw from the Lions’ round 11 clash with Mt Barker and remains a toss-up to play in the finals. Railways will face the Bulls in the qualifying final at Tigerland on Saturday.