Whitehead out but Roos’ coach backing his players in against rivals

Kalgoorlie spearhead Ricky Whitehead has pulled up short in his bid to overcome an injury and take his place in Saturday’s Goldfields Football League grand final team against Railways.

Whitehead’s seven goals last weekend in the preliminary final lifted the Roos to a 12-point win against Mines Rovers.

But he was injured in the last quarter and coach Rick Butterfield on Friday confirmed his trump card would not play.

“There’s no chance, to be honest,” Butterfield said.

“There’s a line through his (name) — it seems like he’s ruptured his Achilles.

“There’s nothing we can do about it and it’s a dampener on making the grand final.

“But the boys are still there so we move forward.”

On a positive note, Butterfield said Daniel Ashwin would take his place, after being injured last weekend on the final siren, and Bailey Norris comes into the side for the clash at Sir Richard Moore Sports Centre.

Kalgoorlie finished fourth, but have been impressive in two finals matches, and Butterfield backed his players to continue the trend.

“They (Railways) have a very strong backline which is where they generate a lot of their drive, but we feel we have some fair match-ups at the minute and hopefully go toe-to-toe with them,” he said.

“We’re satisfied to be getting it done each weekend and like I’ve been saying, we have these young kids who keep going and going and I don’t think they’re going to stop until the final siren.”

Railways, whose only loss was against Mines Rovers in round 15, will be at full strength.

“The break (after winning the second semifinal) was great for us and our hit-out on Monday night was probably the best we’ve trained in two years,” Railways coach Rhett Pettit said.

“I’ve been very pleased with the build-up — obviously the boys don’t need any motivation at this stage of the season.

“They’re all up and about and their skills on the track have been elite.

“Hopefully we can orchestrate something similar on the weekend.”