South Morang booked a place in the Heidelberg Golf Club Division 3 preliminary final with a convincing 32-point win over Kilmore in the first semi final.
In a battle between a regular finals combatant in South Morang and Kilmore – who broke a 17-year finals drought this year – it was the Blues who started better kicking with a zephyr of a wind at the Whittlesea Showgrounds.
They led by ten points late in the first term and could have been further in front had they made the best use of their period of dominance.
But eight unanswered majors from the Lions from late in the first quarter to early in the last put the game out of reach of Kilmore.
Jaxson Kinnear was the most dangerous forward for the Blues and kicked the goal to break the drought, but it came way too late. His kick from heavy traffic trickled through the big sticks at the 18-minute mark of the final quarter.
Ironically, his kick at goal had more degree of difficulty than most of the misses earlier in the afternoon. His team had managed 13 behinds and several shots that fell short in between their second and third goals.
Some credit for Kilmore’s scoring woes must go to South Morang. The defence was resolute – led by Ben Muscat and Mitchell Kalpakis. The Lions’ defensive set-up forced the Blues wide at times going inside 50.
South Morang also effectively set up a defensive wall between the centre and their half back line. It resulted in multiple intercept marks being taken.
Kilmore rarely took the ball coast to coast and lacked the dare at times to switch play. The Blues also regularly ignored easy short targets while failing to find teammates with their longer and riskier kicks
“Another team performance backing up from last weekend,” South Morang coach Gary Hall said. His side defeated Kilmore in all three meetings in 2019.
Experienced campaigner Luke Shelton played a great game in the midfield. Tye Hall and Bailey Brown were also instrumental in moving the ball forward.
Aaron Lazaric took numerous marks around the ground and also performed admirably in the ruck. Under-19s eligible players Rohan Buzzini (three goals) and Nathan Bell showed that they belong in the senior team with accomplished performances.
“Proud of the effort to get to finals,” Kilmore coach Nathan Phillips said. “But we let ourselves down a little bit today.”
Phillips was pleased with the work of Adam Milne on the dangerous Alex Colaidis. Colaidis started well with the first goal of the match at the three-minute mark but was goalless thereafter.
He also liked the application of Grant Paxton to tackle taller opponents in ruck contests, and the work of Matt Swindells through the midfield.
Leigh Irons got plenty of it and snuck forward to kick a goal, while Chris Ryall was a standout.
Though the day was a huge disappointment for the Blues, they will reflect on a season of positives – highlighted by their 35-point defeat of Panton Hill at J. J. Clancy Reserve in Round 8.
They are also the only third division team to have both seniors and reserves in the finals series in 2019. Their reserves team faces off in the preliminary final against Old Eltham Collegians, who won their first semi final over Mernda.
South Morang plays Laurimar in Saturday’s preliminary final at the Whittlesea Showgrounds and should go in with confidence – having defeated the Power easily in their Round 18 encounter at Mill Park Lakes Reserve.
Final score: Kilmore 3.14 (32) def by South Morang 9.10 (64)
