Geelong Amateur co-coach Sam Lloyd has labelled Saturday’s 13-goal haul, in which he became the first player in more than a decade to kick 100 goals in the Bellarine, as “a bit of a blur”.
Lloyd entered the Round 20 clash with bottom-placed Surf Coast on 87 goals, but also not feeling 100 per cent after battling illness late last week.
And despite kicking five goals in the first half of the 79-point win, Lloyd admitted he was far from his best before exploding for eight goals in the third quarter as teammates took every opportunity to find the 36-year-old.
“I was feeling pretty ordinary Saturday morning, so I had a couple of cold and flus (tablets) before the game,” he said
“I was playing horrific in the first half, and I think they kicked in at halftime. I’ll mark it down to that.”
Lloyd, who marked the milestone with a snap about 20m from goal after receiving a short handball from teammate Jai Sheahan, says he had lost count of his tally during his third-quarter blitz.
“The one before, I’d forgotten how many I was on,” he said.
“But our runner (Jock Richmond) came out and reminded me; he was more excited than anyone, and I knew I was on 99 then.
“There’s some good vision of him getting around, actually… he jumps up in the air and waves his arms around.”
It’s not the first time Lloyd had kicked 100 in community football, achieving the feat as a 20-year-old with hometown club Denilquin in the Murray League in 2010.
He kicked a career-high 14 goals that season but says the idea of kicking the 13 goals he needed seemed fanciful coming in, but it didn’t stop his family from coming down to Summertime Pools Oval.
“I didn’t really think I’d get anywhere near it, so it was a bit of a surprise,” he said.
“And my family, even though I told them not to, they came down, and doing it in front of them was pretty special.”
With the milestone out of the way, Ammos can now turn their attention to this year’s finals series and meeting with Torquay in Saturday’s qualifying final.
“This is what you play for,” Lloyd said.
“You grind through that month or two in the cold of winter and the Tuesday, Thursday nights and then all of a sudden a final smacks you in the face, and you realise what you’re doing it for, and you start to get pretty excited.”
X: @krockfootball
