Coach reflects on roller-coaster ride

Coach reflects on roller-coaster ride

Earlier this year Millicent had not won a single game of football in 952 days, but marched to the holy grail on an unforgettable Saturday afternoon at Malseed Park last weekend.

The Saints have experienced every emotion imaginable in football over the last three years, having lifted the premiership cup in 2018 before suffering a nightmare title defence losing every game and not stepping onto the park in 2020.

However, Millicent pushed all the pain aside to overcome a fancied South Gambier unit and a lot of credit must go to playing coach Clint Gallio.

The inspirational midfielder picked up a ravaged squad and turned it into a premiership winner and could not hide his emotions after the final siren.

“I am over the moon,” he said.

“It is amazing to think where we have come from in 2019 and no footy in 2020.

“But the work we have done as a senior group with the Under 18’s and 16’s included makes this one a huge reward for effort from the whole club.

“We battled hard and have had some ups and downs which makes this one very special.”

After the Demons conquered all before them to win a dominant minor premiership, many believed the red and white were the favourites for the big prize.

Gallio admitted he felt his men were the underdogs “a little bit”, but knew his team had the talent to succeed.

“We back our strengths and were fully confident in our squad,” he said.

“It was super hard telling a 16-year-old kid on Thursday you will miss out, but we would not be here without him and everyone else.

“South is a quality opposition and threw everything at us, but we were able to stem their flow and get on top.

“We had to battle but no one said flags are easy.”

The first half was an enthralling affair as the two heavyweights went goal for goal.

Millicent emerged 10 points ahead, but Gallio said a lot of players “spent some tickets” to get there.

With the game in a similar situation to the qualifying final, the Saints could have experienced flashbacks of the Demons running over them to a big victory, but it was not the case.

Millicent turned the tables kicking five goals to two in the second half thanks to some daring feats in the midfield in tricky conditions by Gallio’s “Under 18 looking” team.

“We had that belief in our legs and every single player,” he said.

“We worked out our short game worked through the middle to make the ground really big and make some really good entries which were hard to stop.

“You are always nervous and during that last quarter I kept looking at the clock and I thought it was going backwards, but we hung on and I am super proud of the boys.”

Jacob Carger won the Mick Ryan Medal as best on ground and Gallio was particularly happy for his captain.

“Everyone deserved a medal, but he has been super all year and within two months of being at the club he was voted as captain, which shows what kind of person he is,” he said.

“He was super all day and after losing five grand finals he has finally won one.”

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