South Morang led from start to finish to record an impressive 50-point victory over Old Eltham Collegians in the Heidelberg Golf Club Division 3 preliminary final, winning their way through to a third grand final in the last four seasons.
After a disappointing effort against Laurimar in the second semi-final last week, the Lions made a big statement on Saturday as they cruised to a 15.14 (104) to 9.5 (59) win over the Turtles.
A three goal to nil first term set the tone and Gary Hall’s men never looked back from that point. Every part of their game seemed to click in the win, from clunking one-grab marks under pressure to disciplined tackling and precision kicking.
Helping their cause this week was the return of regular senior players Tye Hall, Reece Jones and James Hewson.
Liam Jolly steeped up to the plate with an outstanding performance in the ruck, he also rested forward where he goaled after a contested mark. Helping him out in the ruck was Ben Peterson. Peterson was also a forward target with safe hands and straight kicking to slot three majors for the afternoon.
A winning midfield led by Nathan Bell, Matthew Trim and Kain Hall kept sending the ball forward, with Bell and Hall each contributing a goal.
With sure hands and accurate disposal, Mitch Kalpakis led a cohesive defence while Ben Muscat spent a lot of time on the dangerous Nick Milne who scored just one goal late in the contest after kicking six last week.
“We were flat last week and this week we bounced back,” said South Morang coach Gary Hall.
Old Eltham Collegians were playing catch-up footy for most of the day and struggled to find sufficient avenues to goal.
Trailing by 38 points late in the first half, they gave their fans a glimmer of hope with the final two goals before the main break courtesy of Jack Snow and Tom O’Neill. Normally deep in defence, it was only O’Neill’s second major for the season.
This reduced the margin to a manageable 26 points as the third term began, but the Lions outscored the Turtles in the third quarter to take what appeared to be a match-winning lead of 33 points into the final break.
At the three quarter time address, Old Eltham Collegians coach Matt Sleeman urged his team to take risks, take the game on and go through the middle of the ground. But the Lions booted the first two goals of the last term to seal the win.
Sleeman had made several moves through the course of the game in order to bridge the gap. The most successful move was to put teenager Sebastian Francis-Perkins into the midfield after half time, he had a big impact in the second half and was one of the Turtles’ most impressive players.
Tenacious Nick Snowdon was among the best for the Turtles and hit the scoreboard, while Tom Cleary and Jack Fitzgerald were useful contributors.
“We’re very disappointed, but it was a good effort to get to a preliminary final,” Sleeman said.
“To play a power club like South Morang is like 50 playing 500. They have such a depth of talent through their ranks.”
