Drysdale to take another shot at Barwon Heads in a preliminary final after comfortably beating Anglesea by 36 points

Drysdale is hoping it is a case of fourth time lucky against Barwon Heads in a preliminary final, overcoming a last minute loss of a player to Covid to beat Anglesea by six straight kicks.

Revenge could come quickly for Drysdale with the Hawks earning another crack at Barwon Heads in a BFL preliminary final this weekend.

Drysdale, who lost last Saturday’s qualifying final to the Seagulls by just two points, are poised for a rematch after pushing aside a wayward Anglesea after half time in a semi-final on Sunday at Portarlington.

In a similar vein to Barwon Heads 24 hours prior – who lost Charlie Brauer in the warm up – Drysdale’s Sam Fleming was ruled out with Covid.

It was far from pretty, with both sides guilty of sloppy disposal and turnovers, but the Hawks did enough to win with James Breust (four goals), Ben Fennell (three) and Tom Ruggles (two) dominant to get home 13.15 (93) to 7.15 (57).

Earlier, Anglesea, who went into the match again without its chief goal kicker Dylan Pettingill, had more of the ball but couldn’t capitalise in the opening quarter, kicking 1.6.

Ben Ryan’s third term goal for Drysdale was a circuit breaker against Anglesea. Picture:

While it wasn’t a terrific advertisement for BFL footy, the Hawks were a bit more efficient going forward; twice they ripped the ball down the wing on the counter-attack to open a 50m arc for Breust to run into — his best effort being a beautiful boundary line shot on the run to open Drysdale’s account.

Both teams were served by their rebounding defenders, too, notably Noah McGregor-Dawson and Luke Preece for the Roos and Hawks respectively.

Drysdale opened the second quarter with a goal on the run from Fennell, who kicked four majors the last time they met in round 15.

However, a change of ends brought a change of accuracy for the Roos, including a quick brace from Jarod Bacon to put Anglesea back in front.

However, Fennell’s second, and a beauty below his knees from Breust, gave the Hawks a 10-point buffer at half time.

The Hawks would miss a few gettable shots, before a circuit breaker came in the shape of Ben Ryan who marked a Roos kick out, to finally deliver the six pointer it needed.

Drysdale’s Sam Fleming was a late withdrawal with Covid. Picture: David Smith.

Anglesea barely threatened after then; a magnificent shot on the three quarter time siren from Chris Tainton was the icing on a five-goal, matchwinning quarter for the Hawks.

However, Drysdale coach Ben Carmichael said the Roos made them earn the preliminary final berth.

“The scoreboard looks like a comfortable win, but they certainly challenged us,” Carmichael said.

“They controlled the game in that second quarter.”

He said Drysdale had plenty of motivation to beat Barwon Heads, who enjoyed a 3-0 win-loss record over them this year.

“It’s amazing, this will be the eighth time we’ve played them in two years,” he said.

“We know each other pretty well, this year they’ve probably had the wood over us.”

Anglesea coach Jordan Keras was disappointed but proud of his team’s season, which had been riddled by injuries.

“It’s been a hard year,” Keras said.

“You don’t want to make excuses ... I hope I don’t have to deal with as many injuries as I have this year.

“Injuries to key players, it make it hard to butter up each week.

“But they stuck fat pretty much right up until now.”

He said inside 50s were close to equal at half time but the Roos didn’t take their chances.

“We were probably beaten on every line today,” he said.

“They really rose in that second half and got their game going.”

VOTES: Ben Fennell (3), Luke Preece (2), Tom Ruggles (1).

Originally published as Drysdale to take another shot at Barwon Heads in a preliminary final after comfortably beating Anglesea by 36 points