STAWELL is looking to 2016 after its finals campaign was ended by Minyip-Murtoa on Sunday.
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The Warriors were unable to score in the opening term of their semi-final clash in Horsham and could not take advantage of a strong wind advantage in the second term.
They trailed by 43 points at the main break and driving rain in the second half made it almost impossible for them to conjure a comeback.
The eventual 10.6 (66) to 2.12 (24) loss was the of a positive season for the senior side, who exceeded expectations by winning one final in 2015.
Coach Brad Thomas said he was proud of the manner in which the Warriors played out the match on Sunday and said his players were looking forward to the pre-season.
“Credit to the boys the way they fought it out,” he said.
“We’re definitely not disappointed. We’re just excited to start working on pre-season.”
Thomas told the Mail-Times after the match that there was a sense of unfinished business after the side’s season was ended by the Burras.
“You get this far and you want to keep going, no doubt,” he said.
“But we’ve got a big off-season coming up and everyone’s already signed up and we’ll just start working and building on it.
“This side only won two games last year so to be able to get this far in finals this year, I reckon we’ve done awesome.”
In brutal conditions on Sunday, the Warriors found it tough to break into their front half with the breeze in their face.
“We couldn’t get it inside 50. We were winning stoppages but we couldn’t get it forward.
“I reckon our first quarter was pretty good, it was just the conditions. I mean there are no excuses but it was just one of those games.
“Minyip was definitely better than us in the first half.
“We didn’t work hard enough.”