News

He is always able to take something a out of a loss and goes into every game, regardless of how much higher on the ladder the opposition is, confident his side will get the job done.

But Knights' positive outlook was tested after the Bombers had frittered away their chances of beating North Ballarat at Stawell in their VFL clash in round 13.

Despite having five more scoring shots than their arch rivals, the Bombers were beaten 14.11 (95) to 11.19 (85).

The loss left the Bombers outside the top eight, and it was at that time when doubts began to creep into Knights' mind about the Bombers' prospects of extending their season into September.

History shows that the Bombers won three of their last six games of the season to finish in eighth position, and ironically, after it was the North Ballarat loss that cast a seed of doubt in Knights' mind, the Roosters are Bendigo's opponent in this Saturday's first elimination final. "I was really disappointed when we lost to North Ballarat in Stawell," Knights said before the Bombers' hour-long training session at the Tom Flood Sports Centre last night.

‘‘We kicked 11.19 that day and really squandered some opportunities.

‘‘I felt at that stage we weren't out of it (finals contention), but it was going to be very difficult.

‘‘But to the credit of the players, they have knuckled down, they have stayed resilient and focused on their training, and that resilience has allowed us to claw our way back.'‘ With three rounds to go, people may have given us very little chance, but our great wins over Williamstown and Casey shored up our finals position." This Saturday will signal the return to the finals of the Bombers for the first time since 2005.

After advancing to the preliminary final in 2005, where they were over-run in the final quarter by eventual premier Sandringham, the Bombers slipped down the ladder last year, winning just four games and finishing second-last.

‘‘It's very exciting coming to this time of year because you put a lot of effort in," Knights said.

‘‘This started in November of last year and when you look back at all that pre-season training, you think this is the end result.

‘‘It's a reward and you really want your players to enjoy what will be for a lot of them their first VFL final." Having finished eighth on the ladder, Knights says the Bombers have nothing to lose when they take on the Roosters, which finished fifth and with 10 wins, won two more games than Bendigo.

‘‘Four weeks out people probably didn't think we would make the finals, so we have nothing to lose," Knights said.

‘‘We're going to put it all on the line and if we can execute our game style to our maximum, we give ourselves a good chance." Saturday's elimination final at Port Melbourne will start at 1.10 pm and be televised on ABC TV.

The winner will play the loser of the first qualifying final between Sandringham and Williamstown in the first semi-final the following week.