A disciplined defensive effort has helped Bell Park into its first preliminary final in 13 years after overcoming Newtown & Chilwell by 33 points at a wind-affected West Oval.
The Dragons held the Towners to just two goals for the afternoon, in what was the second-lowest score kicked in 89 GFNL meetings between the two clubs, to book a meeting with South Barwon.
A goal from Bell Park midfielder Fraser Maris at the 20-minute mark of the final term was the only one for the contest that was kicked to the northern end of the ground, in what has become a familiar September sight at the venue.
Post-game, Dragons coach James Saker admitted his team’s buildup had been far from ideal.
“We trained shocking, actually, terrible, and I just spoke to them after; ‘I’d rather back in the nine months of really solid work than worry about, you know, 20 minutes on a Friday night’,” Saker said.
“We’ve shown a bit of maturity in the last month and a bit, so there was evidence of that out there today.”
Saker admitted the forecast for strong northerly wind factored into his planning.
“We’ve had two finals in the last two years where we feel like we’ve played the wind really well and just not quite made it,” he said.
“We were toying with, ‘How defensive do we go? How many around the ball? Behind the ball?’, and we got the balance right.
“Our boys weren’t perfect with execution but pretty good with effort and intent and endeavour into that breeze.”
It was execution that Newtown & Chilwell coach Steve Johnson was left to lament as the ‘Towners exited the premiership race at the semi-final stage for the second straight year.
“I wasn’t disappointed with our effort; I thought we had a crack for120 minutes,” he said.
“I thought our midfield cracked in. We put pressure on them going forward.
“They blazed away a lot, and (Braden) Hocking was able to be the beneficiary of that, which he does just about better than anyone else in the competition.
“So, I can’t question the effort today.
” I was pretty strong on a few things after last week with South Barwon, but defensively we were pretty good.
“Just, with the ball in hand, we didn’t make the most of the chances.”
Bell Park opportunist Euriah Hollard was the lone multiple goal-kicker on the ground, with the first of his two goals during time on of the third quarter a volley he hit flush after the ball fell off the pack at the top of the goals.
Isaac Wareham was a standout running off half-back, while youngster Zach Lamb also stepped up in the biggest game of his short career with some courageous acts.
Hocking was brilliant for the Eagles, as was youngster Noah Caracella, who will have benefited from two finals appearances.
X: @krockfootball
Newtown & Chilwell 0.1, 1.5, 1.7, 2.14 (26)
Bell Park 4.5, 4.5, 7.10, 8.11 (59)
Goals: Newtown & Chilwell – M. Dodos, C. Fopiani
Bell Park – E. Hollard 2, F. Marris, T. Pidgeon, R. McWaters, O. Hicks, Z. Lamb, M. Mahady
Best: Newtown & Chilwell – N. Caracella, B. Hocking, N. Harris, N. Jephson, B. Sutterby, C. Karpala
Bell Park – I. Wareham, Z. Lamb, O. Bridgewater, F. Marris, R. McWaters, T. Norton
