Ben Simpson talks Grand Final prep. | The Examiner | September 18, 2023
North Launceston captain Ben Simpson, talks about the upcoming TSL grand final and what it feels like to be part of the North Launceston dynasty. Video and pics Rod Thompson
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00:00 Yeah, great, excited.
00:11 Yeah, probably going as underdogs now, which is, yeah, look, Kinga have probably earned
00:17 the title as the strongest team in the competition at the moment.
00:22 Yeah, just excitement, I think.
00:23 I think, yeah, we get a few players back with the Devils, which probably changes up how
00:28 we think about the game going in, sort of structure-wise.
00:33 So, yeah, I guess the mindset is anything can happen.
00:37 Pretty proud to be part of a pretty great club, and there's a lot of people that have
00:42 been and gone since then.
00:43 There's been massive parts of that as well, but, yeah, we've got guys like Brad Coxgoodger
00:48 and Jack Event that have been there through the whole, all of those 10 years.
00:53 So, yeah, it says a lot about them and their leadership, and being able to bring in very
00:57 much a new group that we started with two years ago and right back to the same position
01:03 we've been through that 10-year period.
01:05 So, yeah, pretty proud.
01:06 Yeah, tonight will be a bit lighter, I think, compared to what we normally would, but at
01:11 the end of the day, it doesn't really change much as far as training goes.
01:14 Preparation-wise, probably less time to think about it, less time to get the nerves up,
01:18 which is nice, I think.
01:20 But, yeah, no, just excited to get out there.
01:22 Look, I guess we've got to think there's nothing to lose.
01:25 Probably went into the second half against Kingborough feeling like we had to save the
01:29 game a bit with a small lead, and I think this week we'll just be trying to get our
01:33 momentum going forward.
01:36 Yeah, probably try not to save the game as much and just throw everything at them and,
01:41 yeah, just see where it takes us.
01:43 North Hobart's probably my favourite ground to play on.
01:46 Nice and small, it's very quick end-to-end, so very hard to lock the ball inside either
01:51 50 when you do win it forward.
01:53 So, I think that suits us.
01:55 I think, yeah, the small ground, our contest needs to be up.
01:58 It probably hasn't been there the last few times we've played Kingborough, but yesterday
02:03 I think our midfield really stood up.
02:05 Alex Lee and Jack Event were really strong, so they're in great form and, yeah, I think
02:09 that suits our brand, yeah.
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