Successful Dawson focuses on winning flag for his Royals playersSaturday, September 13, 2014 - 1:43 PM - by Chris Pike

BRIAN Dawson will now coach in his fourth grand final in five years as a senior WAFL coach but in his typical style he is only focusing on trying to do whatever he can to help his East Perth players win a first premiership since 2002.

Dawson is now one game away from completing his fifth season as a league coach and that has seen him make the 2008 and 2010 grand finals with Swan Districts, and now the 2013 and 2014 grand finals with East Perth in a remarkable run at the helm of both clubs.

Dawson led Swan Districts to a stunning 2010 premiership victory against Claremont but that was built on the back of a learning experience with a young team that lost the 2008 grand final to Subiaco and then suffered a disappointing exit in the 2009 preliminary final.

The 2010 flag for Swans was the culmination of the hard work over that three-year period and now similarly with East Perth the Royals went through losing a grand final to West Perth in 2013 which was the first time for the majority of the team to play on that stage.

East Perth finished the 2014 home and away season two games and percentage clear on top of the ladder, and then win straight through to the grand final by beating Subiaco by 32 points in the second semi-final.

Dawson isn’t interested in talking about his remarkable achievements as a coach, but is happy for his East Perth players to now have the chance to try and win a premiership.

"It's probably something you reflect on later on really because at the moment you stay in the now and the present, and are just looking forward to the next game. Honestly it's just really pleasing for the playing group that they have an opportunity to play in a grand final," Dawson said.

"That's what it's all about just to give the players that opportunity and they have earned it. They have stood up under great scrutiny throughout the year to get to this position and it's a really good opportunity for them to enjoy the moment of being in a grand final and for many of us to go one better than last year."

While never enjoyable to lose a grand final, Dawson saw how the learning experience of 2008 and then the heartbreak of 2009 drove his Swan Districts team to the 2010 flag, and is hopeful something similar can now happen with East Perth after losing last year to West Perth.

"We'll find out but I think it certainly does you no harm long-term as much as you never want to lose one," he said.

"You do learn a lot from that and it's experience you just can't manufacture in any other way so I'm sure they have learned a lot from it and they will carry a lot of that with them over the next couple of weeks."

While Dawson is preparing for his fourth grand final now as a senior coach, it is the first time he has won straight through by winning the second semi-final and able to sit back to watch the preliminary final. He isn’t sure it will be much of an advantage, but is glad to have the break.

"It's pleasing for the guys that they are guaranteed a spot in the grand final so that's always nice to have. It's probably a slight advantage to have a week's break and be able to plan and program accordingly, and modify training as need be to do all those things in preparation for one more game," he said.

"We'll certainly do our best to try and take advantage of that and you'd think it's a small advantage, but as history says it doesn’t necessarily mean everything.

"It's the first time I have been able to enjoy the week's break and finals is very much all about what happens on the day. A lot can happen obviously no matter how well you prepare. Having the week's rest won't be any more than a slight advantage because it's about what happens on the day."

As for the second semi-final win over Subiaco, Dawson was most pleased with the pressure and intensity that the Royals played with to overcome the Lions largely on the back of strong showings from Dean Cadwallader, Sam Butler, Dom Sheed, Steven Payne, Brendan Lee and Blayne Wilson.

"I thought our midfield group all played their part very well. Dom Sheed had a particularly good game I thought but everyone played their part and there is nice depth that we have through there which is an advantage," Dawson said.

"I thought it was a pretty solid performance. I thought our pressure was pretty good and we created enough opportunities going forward to kick ourselves a score. Mostly it was our pressure that was pretty good around the footy which it needs to be and that's really the whole secret to finals to generate the pressure to make it difficult for your opponents."

East Perth didn’t have any injury concerns coming out of the second semi-final win, but there are still players who were strong contributors during the year that will come into consideration for selection in the grand final.

Brett Dobson played all but three games during the season while Mitch Howlett made a significant impact in his seven matches and Callum Hart did well defensively in 12 appearances so that trio aren’t without a chance of breaking into the side.

"Dobbo, Mitchy Howlett and Callum Hart are the three who have played a fair amount of senior footy over the year and unfortunately weren’t part of the team on Sunday, but they are pushing up hard for the grand final," he said.

"We don’t think there is any injuries from the game so that probably squeezes things up again, but it's never easy and you have to assess who your opponents are and what they may bring before you finalise your team. There is still a bit of water to go under the bridge yet."

Dawson will now cast a keen eye over this Sunday's preliminary final between Subiaco and East Fremantle at Medibank Stadium to find out his grand final opponent.

"Prelim finals are red hot and cut-throat with all on the line so it will be a desperate stakes game I'm sure," Dawson said.

"From our point of view sitting back and watching, we hope it will be a titanic struggle that goes down to the wire I suppose, but they will both be very hard at it and they have both beaten each other this year so they look to be reasonably evenly matched. We'll see what rolls out on Sunday."