LLOYD ILETT – SWDFNL – Footy finals
COLERAINE will have to spend the summer rueing a four-minute period that halted the Maroons’ progress into the South West District Football Netball League Senior grand final, as Cavendish produced some brilliant football to claim the last spot in the big dance by winning, 10. 10 (70) to 9.5 (59).
The preliminary final was staged at Heathmere Recreation Reserve with the host club turning out near-perfect conditions for all teams to enjoy despite a huge amount of rain that lashed the district in the lead up to the game.
Many other venues across the Western District are mere quagmires after rain, but not at Heathmere as the drainage works well, with the surface offering firm footing for the players to showcase their skills.
This was always going to be a tough game with victory built upon solid defence and so it was as the first goal took over two minutes to materialise as Kieran Barker (Coleraine) slotted the ball through the big sticks to hand reward to Coleraine for its sound start to the game.
Cavendish struck back with the next three goals and looked likely to run away with the period, but the Maroons regrouped behind skipper Marcus Rhook and bridged the gap at the sound of the siren to only two points.
Rhook was inspired across the halfback line as he repelled Cavendish attacking raids seemingly at-will and drove his side deep into attack.
The team followed their leaders’ example and with three goals to one in the second stanza they took an eight-point lead into the main break and had the Bloods on the ropes looking for the knockout blow.
With an at times gale force wind blowing towards the goals at the highway end of the ground, the majority of scoring was at that end in all four games that were played on the day, but those teams that managed to buck that trend ended up claiming victory across the day.
Cavendish coach, Sam Gibson, moved himself from the forward line into the backline and from there he produced a best-on-ground performance in the second half as the tide swung to the Bloods.
The third quarter followed the day-long script as Cavendish slammed home three majors to only one from Coleraine, with Gibson kicking a goal right on the siren to see his team grab the lead by a kick with one term to play.
Cavendish had an inspired four-minute opening period in the final quarter that saw the Bloods slam home three goals (to go along with Gibson’s major to end the third quarter) to swamp the Coleraine team who then had to try and play catch-up football for the remainder of the game.
It was the only period of the game where one team thoroughly dominated the opposition and the Bloods were not about to allow the Maroons to regain a foothold as Gibson led his team into the grand final.
Those three goals at the opening of the term were the only majors that Cavendish produced for the final quarter and they proved to be enough to earn the chance to meet Dartmoor next Saturday at Melville Oval.
“It was a great game to watch as both sides put their all in, where momentum could have gone either way at any point,” Coleraine coach, Adam Ward said.
“We upheld a great game of footy with finals intensity, after half-time it started to get a little bit harder for us losing key forward Kieran ‘Kizza’ Barker and another injury through the midfield which lost us vital rotations through the middle, but the boys really dug deep and pushed their work rate higher so it was not until the last quarter where fatigue sunk in and it started to slip away but we never gave up, proud efforts from the boys.
“With Cavendish getting an early jump through the first quarter, kicking with the wind, the boys were not going to let it happen that easy and the pressure rate rose as we created panic decisions upon Cavendish and were able to utilise the ball and rebound well from defence and sneak ourselves a lead at half-time.
“Finals football is always a different game and we spoke about the pressure we brought and know we can match Cavendish skill-wise and physically.
“It comes down to maintaining possession and having the composure to make the right decisions with the ball while fatigued with heavy legs, so that’s something we tried to focus on and I felt we did very well, as well as winning our one-on-ones.
“Unfortunately, in the last quarter a yellow card was received by us (unsure why), but that really hurt us giving Cavendish a loose man for the remainder of the game which they utilised.
“For the day, Zach Hartley was best on for us really leading up the ground well, taking big marks, making impact, Harry Armstrong at his usual running off half back and Marcus Rhook strong in defence taking big intercept marks and directing traffic.
“All the boys played well in my eyes, no one gave up.
“We made big achievements this year; blooding the youth of the group we had this year with some added experience and the improvement as a squad is what you love seeing as a coach.
“I have really enjoyed this year.”
Lions roar as Giants out in straight sets
HEYWOOD has roared into the Reserves grand final with a commanding six-goal thrashing of minor premiers Dartmoor at Heathmere Recreation Reserve on Saturday, 10.9 (69) TO 4.9 (33).
The Giants have suffered a horror final three weeks of the season with losses to Cavendish (twice) and now Heywood to see the top ranked Dartmoor exit the finals without a whimper.
Heywood was not expected to bother Dartmoor and the Lions entered the final as rank outsiders, but an inspired opening term saw Heywood keep Dartmoor goalless (and it would have been scoreless except for final second behind) as the Lions opened a 30-point lead at the first break.
The game could have been all over bar the shouting if Heywood had kicked straight in the opening stanza as their 11 shots on goal only produced four majors such was the underdogs dominance.
The second quarter saw the Giants lift their intensity and the team held the Lions to only one behind for the term while adding two goals of their own to make the gap only 15 points at the main break.
Heywood were not going to be denied the chance to feature in the grand final next week as the team returned to the ground fully prepared to do whatever it took to ensure victory.
The Lions again kicked with the wind in the third term and added another three majors while also licking three more in the final quarter when kicking against the wind to win the game going away from the Giants.
Evan Bott, Billy West, Connor Roberts, Josh Ferguson, Matthew Sailor, Tim Reid were the best of a very good team performance from Heywood while Zac Nash, Coby Rice, Cody Peppin, Bailey Polaski, Tom Mckinnon, Latham Hill could not drag their team to the level required.
Heywood now advance to battle Cavendish at Melville Oval next Saturday in front of what is expected to be the biggest crowd of the year.
Junior grades
IT WASN’T meant to be for the Coleraine FNC on Preliminary Final day as the club entered the occasion with three teams seeking a place in the grand finals, but coming away with none.
In the first game of the day, the Under 14 Maroons played the cliched game of two halves as the team battled Tyrendarra.
The first half saw the Tyrendarra team dominate Coleraine with the Maroons only posting a single behind for the Darras to lead by 17 points at the long break.
There must have been some tough love in the sheds at halftime as Coleraine returned to the field for the second half a completely different outfit.
By the end of the third term, they had closed the gap to only five points and took momentum into the final quarter but Tyrendarra managed a late goal to maintain the one kick gap and the season was over for the Maroons when the siren sounded.
The Under 17 game was the second game of the day that was decided by a kick as Tyrendarra held on to defeat Coleraine, 7.4 (46) to 5.11 (41).
This was a hard-fought match where the Darras held the lead for most of the game as they made the most of kicking with the wind in the first term to open a 12-point lead at the first siren.
Coleraine dominated the second term but failed to make this dominance appear on the scoreboard as the forwards were wasteful in front of goal by kicking 1.5 for the quarter as the side failed to take full advantage of kicking with the wind.
That poor shooting allowed Tyrendarra to maintain the lead at the long break and the second half saw the teams swap goals as each team added three majors, but Coleraine again missed vital shots as the team could only think what should have been after having 16 shots to 11 for the game.
