Live stream: Lindisfarne v Huonville, SFL senior men’s preliminary final

Huonville will take plenty of hope into the SFL preliminary finals after it took a halftime ‘firework up the bum’ for the Two Blues to beat them a fortnight ago. Watch the SFL senior men’s preliminary final LIVE on Saturday.

Lindisfarne have somehow survived tense final term to hold off a fast-finishing and hungry Huonville Lions pack and qualify for the SFL grand final.

The Two Blues were well in control of the preliminary final at Anzac Park, but faced more than a few nervous moments after Huonville fought their way off the canvas to set up a grandstand finish in a much tighter match then their quarter final clash.

The Lions didn’t kick a goal in the first quarter as they went into the first break down by more than 30 points, but fought their way back into the contest to trail by just two points in the final few minutes.

Matteo Paolini played the hero for the home side, with his late goal – and third of the afternoon - adding some much-needed breathing room for the home side as they endured a nailbiter down the stretch in the face of Huonville’s 30-point last term.

Accuracy in front of goal proved vital, as the Lions enjoyed six more scoring shots but left with three fewer goals in what finished as a 14.7 (91) to 11.16 (82) win for the Two Blues.

Paolini and Ed Stanley eachkicked three goals, Ryan Martin and Dylan Johns added two each with four other Two Blues kicking their way onto the scoresheet.

Ethan Brock, Michael Paul and Tom Wright each bagged doubles for the Lions.

Lindisfarne will face Cygnet in the decider on Saturday, September 14, at North Hobart Oval.

MATCH PREVIEW

They matched it for a half against Lindisfarne two weeks ago, but Huonville Lions vice-captain Rhys Ward knows it will take a full four-quarter effort to win Saturday’s preliminary final and book a grand final date with Cygnet.

Despite a strong first-half performance in the qualifying final, the Lions eventually went down to the Two Blues by 39 points but rebounded with a win over Brighton last week to lock in another meeting between the two.

The preliminary final showdown will be streamed live and exclusive on KommunityTV and The Mercury on Saturday at 2pm.

While they went down to the Port in last week’s grand final qualifier, the Two Blues will still head into the preliminary final as favourites with a 3-0 record against Ward’s side in 2024.

That record hasn’t dented the confidence of the Huonville skipper, knowing his side has the firepower to not only match, but overcome their rivals on any given day.

Aidan Webster Lindisfarne and Rhys Ward Huonville Lions ahead of their qualifying final match. Preview to SFL and SFLW first week of finals. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

“They’re a great team and have played some great footy against us but we’ve also shown that we can take it to them in patches,” Ward said.

“We learned that when we play our brand of footy in the way that we’re trying to play, as we did in the first half (of that last meeting), that we could absolutely take it to them.

“But then once they got on top and got some momentum, we found it really hard to wrestle back. It’s just going to be about controlling that and slowing the game down when we need to.”

After missing last week’s semi-final battling a calf injury, Lions playing-coach Callen Daly has been named to make his return for the side.

Lindisfarne captain Aiden Webster admitted it took ‘a firework up the bum’ at halftime to overcome the Lions in the first week of finals, but said when the two blues are on there are no teams who can match them.

Daniel Blazely Lindisfarne and Cameron Walter Cygnet. SFL Cygnet V Lindisfarne qualifying final. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

“I felt last time we played them we didn’t rock up for that first half,” Webster said.

“We kind of needed a bit of a firework up the bum to get us going in the second half and we felt, when we’re playing our best footy, I don’t think any team can keep up with us.”

The Two Blues are riding a sombre wave of disappointment out of last week’s one-point loss to Cygnet in the grand final qualifier, but Webster said they needed to leave that result in the past or risk not being ready for the Lions.

“It was obviously disappointing not getting the result that we wanted (last week) after putting that much effort into the game,” Webster said.

“We thought we probably had the win towards the end, but you’ve just gotta put it behind you.”

Originally published as Live stream: Lindisfarne v Huonville, SFL senior men’s preliminary final