GFNL 2024: St Joseph’s wins sixth-straight game to start the season as Paddy De Grandi kicks seven

This side proved they are one of the teams to beat in the Geelong Football Netball League after a stirring comeback — and one of their best lifted with the game on the line.

St Joseph's Paddy De Grandi. GFL: St Joseph's v Newtown & Chilwell at Drew Oval. Picture: Alan Barber

St Joseph’s has won six games in a row to start the season and their nailbiting victory over Leopold was undoubtedly its most significant.

And it confirmed they are well and truly among the top echelon in the Geelong Football Netball League this year.

Trailing by 21 points at halftime against the reigning premiers on their home deck, St Joseph’s kicked nine of the next 12 goals to rocket to a 21-point lead themselves at the 12th minute mark of the first quarter.

Five of those goals in that second-half surge came off the boot of Paddy De Grandi.

But Leopold certainly wasn’t done yet.

The Lions kicked two in a row through Sam McDonald and Sam Scott to cut the margin to nine points. Then sure enough, De Grandi kicked another crucial goal – his seventh for the match – to push it back out to a 15-point margin.

However, the Lions didn’t give in, booting another two goals in the space of a minute to put them within three points in the dying minutes.

From there it was the Joeys who controlled the play, adding a further three behinds before the siren sounded to bring up a six-point win, much of that thanks to the performance of De Grandi.

St Joseph’s assistant coach Paul Hood lauded the standout performances of De Grandi and captain Alex Hickey and was pleased De Grandi got the reward on the scoreboard – having kicked 11 goals in five outings before round six.

He said a mantra of remaining calm and sticking to the game plan helped them arrest control of the contest in the second-half.

Paddy De Grandi booted seven for the Joeys. Picture: Alan Barber

“It was pleasing, to beat Leopold out there, who are obviously a fantastic club, really well drilled and organised, it was good to be able to compete and know that we can compete with the good teams,” Hood said.

“I know talking to a lot of the fans that were there afterwards they though it was a really exciting spectacle and fortunately for us we were in front when the siren went.

“Paddy had a super game, a really big final quarter and stood up in some big moments and some of those goals obviously were vital for the result.

“He had a huge season for us without really hitting the scoreboard as much as he has in previous years and it all clicked together this week and it was great to see him get the reward for his consistent effort throughout the season.

“It certainly wasn’t panic stations (at halftime) or anything like that, it was just keep grinding away and be harder for longer and that was led by our captain Alex Hickey and the experienced members of the team that really drove that agenda, and made sure that everyone just got out there and remained calm and stick to the plan and that was great to see it pay off.”

The Joeys aren’t getting carried away with themselves as they know full well it can turn quick.

Last season they had a similarly hot start to the season winning eight of their first nine games, but went on to miss the finals.

But with returning stars James Gow, Luke Webb and Liam Betson and the continued improvement of youngsters Ollie Hanneysee, Hunter Lewis and Max McLachlan up forward and Joel O’Dwyer and Zac Knights – who sat out the final quarter after copping a knock to the face – down back, a finals berth is looking more certain by the week.

And that is even after the disappointing news that star playmaker Jack Buckley will miss until the mid-season bye with a stress fracture in his foot.

“I think we have got the potential to go a little bit further (than last year),” Hood said.

“A couple of recruits, James Gow and Luke Webb coming back and Liam Betson have been really important to improving the side. But we have a really young team.

“As each of those guys gain more experience, the team itself grows. So it is really exciting to see where the rest of the season can go.”

Originally published as GFNL 2024: St Joseph’s wins sixth-straight game to start the season as Paddy De Grandi kicks seven