War Memorial Park felt like Cazaly’s Satdium up in Cairns, a hush of silence fell upon the crowd and the home team’s supporters had their fingers crossed for a Karmichael Hunt dream finish.
Unfortunately for Stead and the Greensborough faithful, some things aren’t meant to be. Football can be a cruel sport. Just ask the West Preston-Lakeside boys who have coughed up their solid grip on fourth place on the ladder after the weekend’s result.
Stead went on to kick a behind and in doing so, tied up the game. All players from each team dropped to their knees. Some stood with hands on the back of their heads and others looked around in complete shock. Instead of reflecting on the two points that they had each gained, the question the players and coaches were lamenting over was the ‘what if?"
What if? Indeed.
What if Anthony ‘Pebbles’ Rocca didn’t kick those four magnificent goals, and take those amazing old school screamers? And, on the other hand from the West Preston-Lakeside perspective, what if Rocca had have been able to put away those easy shots on goal? Did he have had the game in the palm of his hand?
Gee, imagine if Greensborough’s favourite ruck man, Joel McLellan hadn’t dominated the ruck that day and provided such good service to his midfields? Would we have won the stoppages without him, the coaching staff ponder? Flip the coin and the away team could be seen tearing their hair out over the dilemma. Should we put a third man up against him?
Fans walked away from the ground that day bitterly disappointed. Too many turnovers, not enough contested ball wins. Had the game in their hands and they let it slip, both crowds said. I am an optimist, a neutral and can honestly state the game was the best local football match I have seen.
Sure mistakes were made, plenty by both teams. However, consider the pressure around not only the ball but the ball carrier. Both teams had strengths and weakness.
The Roosters’ Kris Bardon, or ‘KB’ as the fans like to call him, played a superb game. He linked up well and was arguably the hungriest player on the ground. Billy Micevski played an important sidekick role to Rocca and Luke Cotchett played out of his skin, rebounding well from the defensive 50m.
Greensborough was equally impressive with Rhys Boyden matching Rocca’s four-goal haul and was an ominous figure amongst the Roosters back man.
I rarely saw a competition in which Greensborough No. 7 Joshua Riddle wasn’t involved. His appetite and desire around disputed ball was to be admired and he kept the home team in the game when all looked lost.
Then there was Jamie Craker who had the strongest hands all day and failed to drop a mark. He was able to set up crucial goals for his team, even from deep in defence.
The result was fitting for two teams that went at it full on for four quarters. There were times, even mere moments, in the game in which you felt like one team was on top, but a quick turnover or a gutsy effort by a player would switch the momentum back.
West Preston-Lakeside will take on the lowly-placed Whittlesea at home next week, hoping to return to its winning form. The Greensborough team will have the mammoth task of knocking off the reigning premier, Bundoora, at Yulong Reserve.
Final score: Greensborough 15.9 (99) drew with West Preston-Lakeside 14.15 (99)
