GFL semi final: Leopold and St Mary’s win big against Colac and Newtown & Chilwell
Six Leopold players clocked up double-digit contested possessions as they thrashed Colac to eliminate the Tigers in straight sets.
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Six Leopold players racked up double-digit contested possessions in the Lions’ 70-point thrashing of Colac at the weekend.
Tom Feely and Jai Thompson led the way with 18 each, while Marcus Herbert (14) and Marcus Thompson, Liam Herbert and Connor Giddings (10 each) were right in the thick of the contest.
Former Geelong ruck Trent West dominated in the middle of the ground with 46 hit outs.
Liam Herbert and Jai Thompson led all possessions getters on the ground with 25 each, while Colac co-coach Darcy Lang was best for the Tigers with 24.
Lions’ quick start sets up thrashing of Colac
Leopold coach Garry Hocking said he “had to look twice” at the scoreboard as he watched his Lions run rampant against Colac in Sunday’s semi final.
The Lions had the wind and kicked six goals to two in the opening quarter before putting the foot down and ultimately running out 19.11 (125) to 8.7 (55) victors.
Hocking said the Lions were in “really good form” and they expected to win a premiership in 2022.
“We knew Colac would respond after their game last week, so we went out and wanted to beat them around the contest and really take advantage of that wind,” he said.
“We had only just kicked over 50 points in the previous two games against Colac so we had to challenge them on the scoreboard, so to get on the scoreboard early was a big factor in getting the fast start.”
There was plenty of heat in the contest, with on-field skirmishes interrupting the flow of play at times, but Leopold’s physicality prevailed around the ground.
Hocking said both teams had a “clear plan” to quell the influence of opposition stars, with Tom Feely tagging Jonathan Simpkin and Kane Smartt running with Marcus Thompson.
“We wanted to try and minimise Darcy Lang and Jonathan Simpkin’s influence on the game, they can be really dangerous,” he said.
“Both being ex-AFL players they’re very smart players, so our match ups were really good on them, Feely had a good game and Ollie Tate played in parts on Lang and did well too.
“Being able to stop their influence gave us plenty of good access to the contested ball first and our midfield really won that battle.”
The 55 points scored for Colac was the Tigers’ lowest score since kicking 7.13 (55) in a win against St Albans in round 11, 2019.
Colac co-coach Rowan McSparron said it was a third consecutive “extremely disappointing” game to finish the season. “It was both (a lack of effort and execution), I thought we didn’t step up to the plate today,” he said.
“We didn’t get enough footy on our terms and when we did we played back into their hands, dropping it down the line instead of changing the angles.”
Eagles rue missed chances after inaccuracy costs finals win
NEWTOWN & Chilwell coach Damien McMahon was left to rue his side’s missed chances after going down to reigning premier St Mary’s on Saturday.
In a compete turn of events from the qualifying final, the Eagles were wasteful in the opening quarter against the Saints, booting 1.10 to lead by just two points at the first change.
Just a week earlier Newtown & Chilwell slotted 7.1 in the opening quarter to set-up a crushing win over Colac, but this time McMahon’s men were inaccurate with a strong breeze.
“The first quarter summed it up pretty well, last week we kicked 7.1 in the first quarter and this week we had 1.10, so that was definitely a missed opportunity,” McMahon said.
“We needed to give ourselves a good buffer and it might’ve been a different game.
“That was a key moment in the game where we failed, six of the missed shots were set shots at goal so it was probably just a skill-based error because they (St Mary’s) managed to kick them.”
Eagles ruck Cameron Wilkinson had a tough battle with Nick Nott, with the Saint providing his side first use of the ball throughout the contest.
McMahon said the Eagles gave St Mary’s midfielders first use and concedes his side did not apply enough pressure in the contest.
“They came out on top in that midfield battle, their ruck had a good dominance and their midfielders won more clearances than ours did,” he said.
“They’re a classy outfit, they were able to shift the ball better than we could and get the ball into the forward line quickly and put our guys under pressure.
“I thought Braden (Hocking) was probably our best player today, he was quite good at centre half back, Luke Maddock had a fair duel with Tom Lang and held up pretty well.
“Matty Lloyd was another one that was good on (Pat) Dowling, he obviously kicked a couple of goals but Matty got lots of the footy so it was a bit of an arm wrestle.”
Key Saint’s injury sours another grand final berth
St Mary’s co-coach Travis Robertson says he is fearing a significant hamstring injury to one of his key forwards that may rule him out of the club’s fifth successive grand final.
Forward Trent McMullan looked to strained his hamstring during the second quarter of Saturday’s 12.16 (88) to 7.16 (58) victory against Newtown & Chilwell, and will get scans next week.
Robertson said the injury soured the 30-point win against the Eagles.
“Trent looks to have done a pretty reasonable hammy, we’ll address that during the week but I’d guess that he would take a bit of luck to get himself up,” he said.
“It’s so unfortunate, he’s had a good year so that’s disappointing if he misses.
“We had a few others that ended the game on ice, but that was just precautionary, Jack (Blood) has had six weeks out with a quaddy and with the fatigue factor and what the score was late we didn’t want to risk it, and Jarryd (Garner) was sore but he’s fine.”
If McMullan is not right to go, the Saints will likely turn to Lachy Peck, who has kicked 13 goals in his nine senior games this season.
The Saints’ forward line functioned well despite McMullan’s injury, with Pat Dowling and Tom Lang kicking four and three goals respectively.
Robertson said Lang’s consistency since returning from his hand injury had helped create more dangerous opportunities for the other forwards.
“The continuity has been good the last few weeks, the boys hadn’t played a lot of footy together during the year,” he said.
“Paddy has had a couple of niggles which he seems to be working through and he’s a troublesome match up, and Langy is a busy forward and has a huge engine and workrate.
“Both of them are so good inside the arc and bring each other into it, so it’s great to see them working well together.”
Newtown & Chilwell coach Damien McMahon conceded the Saints forward line was clinical compared to the Eagles’ efforts in front of goal, who kicked 1.10 in the opening quarter.
“It was definitely a missed opportunity with the wind, if we had kicked four or five goals it might have been a different game,” he said.
“They were really good with their chances in the second quarter, they kicked straight early and put up a score that was going to be hard to track down.”
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Originally published as GFL semi final: Leopold and St Mary’s win big against Colac and Newtown & Chilwell
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