Pawson brothers looking to lead their clubs to the Metro finals.

On opposite sides of this year’s Canstaff Metro Premier draw, the Pawson brothers will be looking to ensure their team’s are well prepared ahead of this weekend’s Preliminary Finals.

With Scott Head Coach at New Brighton and Jason co-coaching with Simon Livingstone out at Lincoln University, both coaches will be hopeful their sides can get the business done this weekend, with New Brighton hosting Sydenham and Lincoln University welcoming Marist Albion back to Lincoln in a rematch of last year’s Preliminary Finals.  

It would set up a dream finals match up for the brothers, but one that they know they can’t look forward to until after this weekend.  

“It would be a great opportunity (to face Scott) but there’s a long way to go before we can look ahead to that.” said Jason. 

“We had tough run there in round 5, 6 and 7, but it’s allowed us to progress really nicely and they’ve showed real heart to go to Sydenham in the first week of finals and come out on top, and we’re building nicely ahead of this weekend.” 

It’s a sentiment shared by Scott too, who’s New Brighton side has drawn on the range of experience in their group to get where they are in hosting the Preliminary Final at Rawhiti this Saturday. 

“We talked about it together at the start of the year and joked about being there together, but this season, we haven’t looked any further than the next game we play, and nothing changes in that mindset before this weekend.” Scott said. “Semi-Finals are almost harder than the finals, as the final is right there, so it’s important that we keep that mindset in mind.” 

“We’ve got a lot of experience in the team now, with about 10 guys who have played over 50 games. They all came in at around the same time so they have been playing together for the last 3 to 4 years and have now got a lot of belief in the side.” 

“We’ve also got a great captain in Tyson Belworthy who has really led from the front this season and has been a real leader both on and off the field, so we’ll be looking at guys like him to get us over the line this weekend.” said Scott. 

It sets up a blockbuster weekend of finals footy in the Metro region, with all four clubs determined to be represented at Rugby Park next Sunday!