Team Wellington will look to win their third ISPS Handa Premiership title in four years when they take on Eastern Suburbs at QBE Stadium on Sunday.

The Jose Figueira-coached team, who represented their region at the FIFA Club World Cup last December, have shown great character to make their fourth final in a row. They know there is plenty at stake as they look to claim not only domestic honours but OFC Champions League qualification in their bid to return to the Club World Cup.

We caught up with Figueira ahed of the big game.

How have your preparations been for the ISPS Handa Premiership final?

Preparations have been great. We came into this week on the back of a really exciting and big performance last week against Auckland City and those feelings have overflowed into this week’s preparation. Any player, coach or team wants to be competing in finals. It is a really great feeling to be back in a final which is our fourth in a row. It is an exciting week and a great week for us so far.

Auckland City had gone undefeated all season and your team produced a great performance to upset them at home, what impressed you most about that performance?

It was a fantastic all-round performance. We had a plan in what we felt might be able to hurt them and cause them a few problems, to go up there and execute that type of performance and that type of plan for near-on 90 minutes was a joy to watch from the sidelines. That performance was really underpinned by the application and the attitude of the players from the first whistle to the last.

Now you have the chance to win the title again, what would winning the ISPS Handa Premiership mean to you and the club?

It would be huge for us. Team Wellington is a club that wants to be making finals and challenging for honours. For me personally, I want to contribute to that. The last three seasons have been really satisfying here and there is a real sense of pride in this club. We are lucky to be in another final this Sunday. I think it will be an even bigger challenge for us. The focus and determination in the group so far has been excellent. We are ready to go again.

Eastern Suburbs have had a great campaign themselves, what are you expecting from them in the final?

They deserve to be there. They are more than justified with their league position. They have had a fantastic campaign. Up until this season, funnily enough, we had never beaten Eastern Suburbs. It was good to get that monkey off our back this season. They are a team that have got threats all over the park. They are energetic, they are technically good and have shown all season they are free-scoring. That alone is enough of a warning. We only have to look at Auckland City last week where you can go unbeaten all season and it comes down to one game. We got the result last week, but we need to be mindful of both of those things and be at the top of our game on Sunday if we want the result we are after, which is our hands on the trophy.

It shapes as a fascinating contest on the weekend with the experience of your team and the youth of Suburbs, how do you see your experience helping you in the big occasion?

Experience can play a huge part. We have an experienced group, fairly young as well with an average age of mid-20s, but compared to Eastern Suburbs there is a difference there. We will certainly be drawing on the experience of those players who have played in finals, domestically and in Oceania. But we also need to show that exuberance, application and energy that we showed last week. We will need to surpass that against a team whose foundation of their game is built on energy and creativity. It will be a fascinating contest.

Team Wellington have lost your fair share of players this campaign as well – Hamish Watson, Mario Barcia, Scott Hilliar and Justin Gulley – but the team responded well and have shown great character to make the final, that must be impressive?   

It is. It is that doubled-edged sword where, we have seen it with Auckland as well, with success comes players being showcased and if you take all of the emotions out of it, in an amateur league we are providing a platform for players to showcase themselves to bigger and better things including professional contracts. We have had success on the pitch with trophies and had success off of it with players moving on. Those departures coincided with the new year and the high of coming off the FIFA Club World Cup, and it was always going to take time for the new players to come in and bed themselves in, the likes of Aaron Clapham, Bill Robertson and Joel Stevens. To be in a position where we are preparing for a final is testament to the players, the new players but also the core group who remained here. We have gone from strength to strength in the final running of the season.

You won the OFC Champions League last season and had a taste of the FIFA Club World Cup, you know how good it is so does that only add to the motivation for Sunday?

I think it definitely adds to the motivation. We went through an emotional rollercoaster we went in Abu Dhabi in December and, after going out on that penalty shootout, we all got back to the hotel and some of those emotions had subsided. The first comment from the players in our meeting was that we want to be back here. To have a chance to be back there we obviously have to be part of the Champions League. For us, that means winning on Sunday and we have our sights firmly set on trying to do that.
 

ISPS Handa Premiership Grand Final

Eastern Suburbs vs Team Wellington 
Sunday 31 March, 4.35pm 
Live on SKY Sports 
#ESvTW #ISPSHandaPrem 

Article added: Thursday 28 March 2019