Jovan Petric stakes his claim for local footy Mark of the Year

Keilor young gun Jovan Petric has staked his claim for local footy’s mark of the year as the Blues booked their place in another EDFL grand final. See it here.

Keilor coach Mick McGuane was thrilled to have Jovan Petric and Nathan Colenso back.

And their returns made an immediate impact as the Blues moved through to the EDFL Premier Division grand final as the pair kicked three goals apiece in the preliminary final against Strathmore.

The pair were available for McGuane’s side after their VFL commitments with Williamstown ended.

But it was Petric who stole the headlines with a stunning hanger on the Coburg City Oval half forward flank before playing on quickly and snapping truly from just inside 50.

“You live and die by your decisions and he got that one right,” McGuane said.

“Fantastic mark and importantly converted the opportunity. That type of play brings great superior energy to the group.”

After being well beaten by Pascoe Vale in the second semi-final, McGuane had demanded a response from his players as they aimed to keep their premiership defence alive.

“I thought we played really good footy yesterday,” he said.

“We have a lot of belief in this playing group and that was justified. It came down to a number of factors, the personnel availability was different to the week before.

“Health is your best friend at this time of year.

“We got control of territory and on the back of that were able to make some structural adjustments. The boys were able to get the job done quickly based on getting the ball in quick and winning critical 50-50s.”

Keilor coach Mick McGuane. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Now looking ahead to a rematch with the Panthers, McGuane is confident of a better showing from his time.

“Around the contest in finals footy is really critical, we failed that the week before,” he said.

“Ball use is crucial and getting the decisions right is critical. They can either win or lose you games of footy.

“We’re a turnover team, if we turn the ball over, we’ve got to defend that. But if we force a turnover, we’ve got to do that. We failed to do that with the amount of opportunities we had the week before.

“We had 60 entries, we gave up 67 and that’s not us.”