Wangaratta Rovers' Jack Gerrish looks to shine against Albury

Wangaratta Rovers' Jack Gerrish was a lightning fast teenager when he played on the league's best player in 2019 in Lavington's Shaun Mannagh in the Ovens and Murray Football League.

The VFL ace had already kicked a bag and with play near the interchange bench, Rovers' coach Daryn Cresswell instructed Gerrish to stand goalside.

Like all good players, he did what the coach said.

But Mannagh had a trick up his sleeve.

He said to Gerrish, 'are you actually going to stand there? Why not go goalside'?

Gerrish was actually standing goalside but, being a newcomer to seniors, he thought the gun player would know best.

So he swapped sides and the ball fell straight to Mannagh, who ran into an open goal.

He relayed the story to Cresswell, who shook his head in disbelief.

Mannagh 1, Gerrish 0.

Fast forward three years and Gerrish is still one of the league's quickest players we've seen in years.

But he's now footy-smart.

However, he's stlll young enough to have the ups and downs.

He started last year superbly, winning the club at least two games with his pace, including one of the best games of the past 20 years when Rovers upset Wangaratta in a 14-point thriller.

But he wasn't able to maintain that form, which admittedly was sensational, over the latter half of the COVID-disrupted season.

"I think it was a number of things, I'm pretty hard on myself, if I have one bad game, it can turn into two and that belief starts to fall," he admitted after the elimination final win over Myrtleford last Sunday.

Gerrish was dynamic against the Saints and while he lacks the profile of the former AFL players still in finals, such as team-mate and ex-Collingwood defender Sam Murray, he's just as likely to attract spectators.

"I think it's been the best since I've been at Rovers to be honest, 100 per cent," he replied when quizzed if his form over the club's four-match winning streak was his best.

"I'm starting to buy into the game plan and understand our structure, I think the boys have a bit more belief in me, which gives me more belief, Crezza (coach Cresswell) believes in me, I feel like I'm getting better."

Sunday's first semi-final against Albury at Wodonga's John Flower Oval will be the biggest game of his career against a team used to finals.

But Gerrish won't change his all-out attack.

"I love it, I'm all about it."

IN OTHER NEWS:

Three years after losing his nerve, you feel Gerrish will hold his nerve this time.

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