Luke Lirosi’s inspired fourth-quarter performance earns him NFL Division 1 grand final best-on-ground medal
With the premiership up for grabs, West Preston-Lakeside’s Luke Lirosi stepped up to inspire the Roosters to an incredible grand final victory, earning himself the best-on-ground medal.
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Final quarter, scores level, premiership on the line. Enter Luke Lirosi.
The West Preston-Lakeside star’s match-winning fourth-quarter heroics were rewarded with the best-on-ground medal in Saturday’s NFL Division 1 grand final.
Lirosi kicked the first two goals of the pivotal final term to inspire the Roosters to a stunning 12-point upset victory over Greensborough and back-to-back premierships.
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The first came five minutes into the quarter, set up by a booming Garrett McDonagh kick-in from full-back.
After a stoppage at centre half-forward, Michael Ercolano’s kick was too high for Aidan Tilley but Lirosi dashed on to the loose ball and ran into an open goal.
The second will haunt Greensborough’s Adrian Cataldo.
Kicking out from full back the Borough defender’s kick was smothered by Ahmed Saad and as Cataldo remonstrated with himself, Matthew Vincitorio popped a handball over to Lirosi alone in the goal square.
It put West Preston-Lakeside 12 points up and when Ozgur Uysal made it 18 points on the 20-minute-mark, it was game over.
Lirosi’s first major kick-started West Preston-Lakeside’s second-half comeback and the diminutive midfielder couldn’t have been prouder of his teammates and club.
“I haven’t kicked more than a goal all year, so to kick three in the granny, I’ll take that for sure,” Lirosi said.
“The boys were incredible — it’s a brotherhood — we all stuck together, after being 0-6 we could have imploded.
“Everyone wrote us off but we knew internally that if we got a few things right it would turn around.
“We stuck together, the results started coming, and here we are.”
McDonagh was named West Preston-Lakeside’s best after a commanding performance in defence which helped keep his team in the game early on.
Ruckman Matt Harman, Ercolano, Matt Signorello and Joel McDonald all played critical roles, while Ahmed Saad nailed two goals.
After missing last year’s flag, Uysal — brought back in after a two-match suspension — was almost unsighted in the first three quarters but produced an outstanding fourth term to help get the Roosters over the line.
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