St Mary’s has the chance to repeat its 2019 heroics and win the GFNL premiership after winning three consecutive knockout finals, holding off Colac by 11 points in a low-scoring preliminary final at West Oval.
The Saints, who kicked the only goal of the final quarter after facing a barrage of forward 50 entries from the Tigers, booked a meeting with arch-rival St Joseph’s this Friday with the 8.11 (59) to 6.12 (48) result.
It extends the number of consecutive seasons in which the elimination final winner has advanced to the decider to five.
“When ‘Raynes’ (Luke Rayner) and I approached this new season of the footy club, we knew that we’d have to learn and grow together,” co-coach Ben Boseley told K rock Football.
“And I think that we showed through passages of play throughout the year that our best was good enough.
“And I think that coming to finals, we’re seeing our group grow even more and mature.
“We’re still young, but we’ve got those experienced bodies. And I think the maturity we’ve had over the last five weeks shows that we can play anyone, anywhere.
“We’ve just got that real confidence that we’re just going to keep rolling. And the maturity of the group has been unbelievable the last couple of weeks.”
St Mary’s star Sam Bourke kicked the first goal of the contest inside the opening minute, but it was Colac who dominated the first quarter, kicking four consecutive goals to the northern end of the ground to open up a 19-point lead.
The Saints quickly erased the deficit thanks to goals from Bourke, Jesse Travaglini and Brayden Ham before the contest turned into an arm wrestle.
From the 10-minute mark onwards, the only goal of the second quarter was kicked by Colac veteran Jonathan Simpkin, helping the Tigers to a seven-point lead at half-time.
Like the second term, St Mary’s started the third quarter with three goals to jump to a 14-point lead.
That margin was reduced to seven points at the last change after Joel Cooper converted for the Tigers.
The teams traded behinds for the majority of the final quarter, with Darcy Lang (twice) and Simpkin missing chances to get Colac back within a goal.
The door finally closed on the Tigers’ chances when Harry McMahon produced a classy finish on the run from tight in the right forward pocket at the 26-minute mark.
Listen to how K rock Football called the Harry McMahon goal by clicking the link.
“(I’m) very proud to be honest,” captain Jack Blood said.
“Counted (as) one of the old boys now, I get to watch the young boys step up.
“And I still can’t get over that goal by Harry McMahon, so I’m taken aback a little bit.
“They definitely did get the jump on us early, and we know they’re such a strong team, so we just needed to wear it there for a bit and get our sort of movement going and how we like to play.
“And that’s what we started to do from that sort of second quarter onwards.”
Colac co-coach Jason Armistead concedes it wasn’t just the missed opportunities in front of goal late in the contest that had his team on the wrong side of the ledger.
“But the reality was as well, I think the second and third quarters, St Mary’s were the better team as well and put themselves in that position that we had to try and chase from behind,” he said.
“We did have a few opportunities, but you’ve got to make the most of them.”
X: @krockfootball
