IN THE past 11 years playing from Ballarat to South Australia and in the Wimmera, Jeparit-Rainbow’s Peter Weir has lost more finals games than he would like to admit.
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“I played in two losing grand finals in Adelaide, a losing semi-final in Ballarat, I’ve lost three preliminary finals and a semi-final for Jeparit-Rainbow and two grand finals, a preliminary final and semi-final for the Warrack Eagles,” he said.
“Every year I’ve played it’s always gone late into finals but I’ve never been able to break through for a flag.
“It does hurt and the ultimate goal is to win one. Every time you lose one you see what the opposition does and realise there are things you can do better. You get a bit of drive after losing one but you do also get a bit nervous wondering if a flag will come your way.”
Weir has travelled around and always found himself a football club. Despite moving away from home he always had intentions of returning to the Storm.
“I went to school in Ballarat and university in Adelaide so I played over there for a bit,” he said. “I came back to Jeparit-Rainbow for a year in 2010 and then to the Warrack Eagles for four years and have been back with the Storm since then.
“I’m a local farmer in the area so naturally I played for Jeparit-Rainbow and have really enjoyed the last few years coming back. I had one year in the Mallee league in 2010 and that was a strong competition.”
Weir said he was hopeful the Storm’s current crop, who will finish the season third on the ladder, can try and push for a premiership in the upcoming Horsham District league finals series.
“This year the competition is really open going into finals and it should be a great finals series and I think we have a big chance,” he said.
“Every team in the competition knows our best is good enough but we just need to get better at breaking even when the opposition has momentum.
“One thing I’ve learnt in finals is it can be a grind and you need to be willing to stick with it all day otherwise you won’t get over the line.
“We have the perfect run into finals with Harrow-Balmoral this week and I always love playing against them.”
Despite all of the finals losses, Weir said some of his best memories in football are from those winning finals moments and playing alongside some quality players.
“I loved playing with Ben Spicer at Warrack Eagles,” he said.
“He made everyone else a better player around him. He does it season after season. At Jeparit-Rainbow I love sharing the forward line with Ashley Clugston. He is a brilliant player and unfortunately he has had a couple nasty injuries the last two years. Hopefully he will be good for finals.
“I remember a ripping grand final in 2011 against Horsham, that was a great game. The year before that at the Storm we beat Hopetoun in the semi-final and they were a local rival.
“To get to the grand final you obviously have to win finals and those have been some great moments.”
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