GSFL 2025: Railways and Mt Barker set to resume hostilities in first final with grand final spot on the line

Mt Barker coach Gary Pope believes his side will be without several key figures when they tackle Railways in the Great Southern Football League qualifying final at Keep The Sheep Stadium on Saturday. A grand final spot is on the line for the winner of the showdown, with the two sides closely matched throughout the 2025 season. Brent Parsons, Ben Saunders and Sam Lehman have all suffered potentially season-ending injuries, while Pope said Brandon Ugle, Seb Ballard, Mitch Jackson and Darcy Clarke were unlikely to play at this stage. That last quartet were absent when the Bulls beat North Albany last week and Pope would not be drawn on their possible return to action in the first week of the finals. Tigers player-coach Bodhi Stubber said his side was working during the week assuming they would be meeting a top Bulls outfit. “I don’t read much into the mind games,” he said. “We are training with the expectation that we will face their best team.” His only concern was over Logan Stubber whose chances of recovering from an elbow injury he rated as 50-50. “We are very excited; finishing in the top two was our target and we’re delighted to have achieved that,” he said. “The games with Mt Barker this season have all been tightly contested and physical so it’s going to be really tough.” They have met three times, with Tigers coming out on top in all three tussles. However, their biggest margin of victory, 26 points, came in round three and the Bulls have run them close on the other occasions, missing out by just three and then 11 points. Both coaches were thinking of the possible weather conditions and Stubber said the club were doing their best to get the oval into tip-top shape. “There’s been a lot of rain, so the oval has been really wet,” he said. “But it doesn’t really faze us; the boys love playing in the wet although our style probably best suits playing when it’s dry.” Given his concerns over availability, Pope was glad to have a double chance of making the grand final, with Saturday’s winners heading straight there and the losers facing the victors of Sunday’s tussle between Albany and Denmark-Walpole. “It’s been one of those ends to the season and we’re lucky to have the benefit of a double chance,’ he said. “We will be ready for a hard, physical game and I’m confident we have a squad capable of beating them.”