Toyota Buffaloes rightfully earned their place in the premiership final, winning three games and drawing one in the knockout stages of the league.
The Kyadondo side had only managed a quarterfinal appearance in the last two seasons since the return of a playoff format league, but this year, they have outdone themselves by reaching the final. The milestone is one they last achieved 13 years ago when they fell to fellow Kyadondo side, the Heathens, in the final of the 2013 season.
This year, the Buffaloes lost only 3 games in the regular season to the Victoria Sharks, KOBs and Saturday’s opponents, the Black Pirates. To prevent a repeat of that regular-season loss, the Buffaloes have had two weeks of preparation, hoping to win when it matters most in the final.
“The preparations have been going well since our last semifinal. We’ve had two weeks to prepare, and we have taken advantage of them. We are having our last training session to try and patch up on the different areas of the game, focusing more on our set pieces and what happens after the set pieces,” noted head coach Charles Onen before the Buffaloes’ last training session on Thursday.
Going into the final, the Buffaloes have widely been regarded as the underdogs, a title they wear with pride, having played second fiddle to Heathens for the larger part of their existence.
They have since established their standalone status, defeating the heathens in the regular season for the last two consecutive years.
Meanwhile, the Pirates have reached all three finals since 2023, a fact that Onen is fully aware of, but not worried by.
“We are just trying to think of how best we are going to execute whatever we’ve been doing throughout the entire season. So no pressure, just calmness, and we are ready to double our efforts and work rate, knowing the team we are playing against are the defending champions and they’ve been there before,” Onen remarked with caution.
“The best thing for us is that we have challenged them before and we believe we need to rub shoulders with them again and fight for the top position in that final,” he adds.