Toby Bennett best on ground in GDFNL Interleague thriller against Colac and District league
In a final quarter spanning 38 minutes, the GDFNL and CDFNL threw everything at landing the final, winning blow. In the end, the finish was fitting of the occasion.
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Geelong and District league pulled off an all-time classic Interleague win against Colac and District league on Monday.
Replicating a similar finish to the two league’s 1993 Interleague battle – which the GDFNL won in the dying seconds – the Raiders iced the win with an after-the-siren goal from vice-captain Austin Mulvahil.
The Raiders already had the victory, a poster seconds before the siren putting them ahead by one point, but it was a fitting finish from Mulvahil considering the game’s chaotic finish, which ended with a scoreline of 11.13 (79) to 10.12 (72).
In a final quarter extending to 38 minutes, both sides threw everything at it in search of a winning goal.
After trailing most of the game, Colac hit the lead after 20 minutes and it seemed the game might slip from the Raiders’ reach.
But an Oscar Barter torp got the Raiders up the ground quickly after the 30 minute mark, before Belmont livewire Ben McPherson snapped truly to regain a narrow one point lead for the Raiders.
Colac charged back up the field in search of a response, though their attempt was touched on the line to level scores again, before the Raiders launched a similar foray forward to earn the poster and subsequent Mulvahil goal.
A brief downpour at Winchelsea’s Eastern Reserve minutes before the 25-and-under clash led to a slippery opening quarter, with skill execution an issue particularly for the Raiders.
Despite dominating inside 50 entries, the Raiders couldn’t make it count, kicking 2.4 compared to Colac’s more efficient 2.1 from fewer opportunities.
Some Herschelle Carr brilliance opened the Raiders’ scoring, the Corio forward crumbing the ball after Barter brought it to ground for a bending goal.
It was the first of three first half goals for Carr, who then added a fourth and fifth in the opening minutes of the third term in similar fashion, running on to it deep and in open space to soccer through, before coming off with a hurt quad.
Raiders captain Toby Bennett and his deputy Mulvahil were composed figures behind the ball early, before coach Paul Lynch pushed Mulvahil into the midfield in the second term in a bid to get a better griphold through the middle of the ground.
Lynch lamented his side’s lack of cleanliness with the ball in the opening term, adding they were getting “nailed in the contest” before he encouraged players to “lower their eyes” going forward instead of dumping it around the centre half forward line only for it to get picked off by a loose Colac defender.
Mulvahil’s move into the middle paid off immediately, the 22-year-old laying a strong tackle to turn over the ball as teammate Jacsen Jewell played on to slot a composed shot on goal.
Opening up their lead to 12 at half time, the Raiders extended it to 25 off the back of Carr’s early third quarter goals, before Colac chipped the margin back within eight by the final break.
Trading goals early in the fourth, Colac swung momentum, cutting it back to one point midway through the final quarter, before hitting the front in the 20th minute.
Bennett claimed best afield for the GDFNL, while Mitch Thornton was judged Colac’s best.
Originally published as Toby Bennett best on ground in GDFNL Interleague thriller against Colac and District league
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