Bendigo takes on Geelong Supercats at Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre this Saturday night.

With the excitement of last weekend’s east conference grand final win yet to subside, Braves’ co-captain Warren Randall said yesterday that winning the championship match would be a bonus for the club after Saturday night’s home court victory.

“We’ve just got back into training and we’re in pretty good spirits after Saturday’s win,” Randall said.

“The training after winning the conference is always the most fun training session of the year.

“The first final is always the big one and this game is now kind of a bonus for us.

“There is no pressure on us now because we’ve won the conference championship, but everyone will be trying hard to get this one, too.”

Bendigo has had mixed results against Geelong this season, with the Braves defeating the Supercats in round two by nine points at Bendigo Stadium, but going down to the Geelong side at The Geelong Arena by 10 points in round 10.

Randall added that Geelong’s greatest weapon this season had been its offence and said that the Braves would have to match the Supercats in scoring power to get the win.

“Geelong is a fairly powerful offensive team and they have some really great shooters,” he said.

“I expect it’s going to be a fast-paced game.

“Geelong has a lot of offensive power, but not much defence, so our shooters are going to have to step up.”

Randall is expected to line up on Supercats playmaker Braith Cox, who has been known to cause the Braves on-court problems in the past through his time with the Ballarat Miners.

“It’s always a challenge lining up against Braith,” Randall said.

“He can get a lot of calls his way, so you’ve got to be careful how you guard him.

“You also have to make sure that you don’t lose your cool.”

After defeating Knox, Randall is confident the Ben Harvey-coached Braves can secure the championship victory over the Supercats, which will be Bendigo’s first SEABL national championship since 2005.

“We won the national championship in 2005 and we won the conference final in 2007, but didn’t go any further.

“We believe we can get the win this time.

“I think we’d much rather play Geelong than Knox in this kind of game because we saw just how tough Knox were on the weekend.”

The Braves will take on the Geelong Supercats at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre this Saturday night at 8pm.