South Barwon has held its nerve to keep alive its hopes of a GFNL finals appearance, pulling away late from St Mary’s for a 20-point win at Anthony Costa Oval.
The Swans, who opened up a 30-point lead early in the second quarter, were on the ropes at three-quarter time after the Saints fought back to snatch a one-point lead to take the momentum into the final term.
However, after more than 20 minutes without a goal to open the last quarter, a snap from Ethan Borys, followed by majors from captain Matt Caldow in game 100 and fellow 2023 Mathieson medallist Fraser Fort, was enough for a 10.12 (72) to 7.10 (52) victory.
The win, South’s fourth in the past five meetings with St Mary’s, keeps them half a game behind fifth-placed Bell Park with two rounds to play.
Swans coach Mark Neeld concedes his team went “a bit safe” during the third term, where they struggled to get the ball inside their forward 50.
“That’s not us, and that’s credit to your opposition,” Neeld said.
“Credit to St Mary’s, (and) their third quarter. That didn’t look like the way we want to play.
“I think coaches always look at the ground and say, ‘OK. Does that look like the way that we want it in terms of the shape, where the players are, and when you’re defending, when you’ve got the ball in it?’.
“And it didn’t. So it was about, ‘Hey, let’s get back to being us’.
“We needed to be bold, and that was the message.”
South Barwon’s win did come at a cost, with midfielder Doyle Madigan forced from the ground late with a hamstring issue.
When speaking to K rock Football after the match, the reigning Mathieson medallist was confident it wasn’t too serious.
However, his coach was less optimistic.
“He’s strained his hamstring,” Neeld said. “I could sit here and lie… (but) he won’t play next week.”
Easing the pain of losing Madigan will be the return of Paddy Kelly and Oscar Pollock from Geelong VFL duty for a must-win McDonald Reserve clash with Colac.
A South Barwon loss to the Tigers and a Bell Park victory over Grovedale would see the Swans absent from the finals for the first time in Neeld’s tenure.
Despite the defeat, which impacts St Mary’s hopes of securing the double chance, co-coach Luke Rayner won’t mull over the result for too long.
“I think there’s always opportunities to learn, (but) I’m not one to really stagnate too much,” he said.
“I’m not one to dwell too much on, I guess, what you might determine as potentially negatives.
“We certainly need to learn and understand what went wrong, but we also need to move on pretty quickly and back the group into recover well, get to work next week, and come ready to face West.”
Small forward Lachie Noble joined Caldow and Fort in kicking two goals for South Barwon.
Sam Bourke was the lone multiple goalkicker for the Saints, also finishing with two majors.
Only disaster will prevent Newtown & Chilwell starting its first finals campaign under Steve Johnson from no worse than a qualifying final after maintaining top spot with a 114-point hiding of St Albans at St Albans Reserve.
The Eagles had the four points in their keeping by quarter time, kicking six goals to one on their way to a 22.16 (148) to 5.4 (34) victory.
Will O’Dwyer finished with five goals for the second time this season, with young gun Ben Pennisi contributing four.
Ethan Guida kicked two goals for the Supersaints.
An eight-goal haul from spearhead Connor Giddings helped Leopold keep its slim finals hopes alive with an 81-point win over Grovedale at Burdoo Reserve.
The Lions struggled to shrug off the Tigers in the first half, leading by four points at the main break, but kicked 14 goals to two from that point on to claim a 21.14 (140) to 9.5 (59) result.
Giddings moved to 54 goals for the season, five clear of South Barwon’s Fraser Fort.
St Joseph’s took another step towards securing the double chance after seeing off Lara by 121 points at Lara Recreation Reserve, 25.10 (160) to 6.3 (39).
Paddy De Grandi kicked five goals for Joeys, with Felix Henderson, Mitch Chafer, and Oscar Morrison contributing three apiece.
Will Nicholls finished with two goals for the Cats.
Jack Sarcevic, Finn Hoey, and Euriah Hollard each kicked five goals as Bell Park maintained fifth spot with a 212-point hiding of North Shore at Windsor Park.
The Dragons kept the Seagulls scoreless until the third quarter in the 34.20 (224) to 2.0 (12) victory.
Co-captain Harry Purcell and Declan Clark were the goalkickers for North Shore.
After avoiding suspension for an incident in the previous week’s win over Bell Park, Colac spearhead Adam Garner’s seven goals were the highlight of a finals-securing 81-point win over Geelong West at Central Reserve.
Scores were level early in the second quarter, before the Tigers kicked 15 of the last 16 goals of the contest to claim an 18.14 (122) to 4.17 (41) victory.
X: @krockfootball
