NAB League: Western Jets through to last eight after beating Geelong Falcons

The Western Jets caused a stunning upset against the Geelong Falcons on Saturday with a star forward again putting himself right in draft calculations.

It’s called Wildcard Round for a reason, just ask the Western Jets.

The Jets have moved through to the last eight of the NAB League after completing a stunning upset of the Geelong Falcons 10.8 (68) to 4.9 (33) on Saturday at Mars Stadium in Ballarat.

After finishing the home-and-away season 11th on the ladder, the Jets went in as underdogs but led from start to finish to end the Falcons’ season.

The result also completed a remarkable turnaround for the Robbie Chancellor coached Jets who had gone down to the last placed Northern Knights by 41 points in the final round.

Matthew Payne of the Jets. Photo: AFL Photos via Getty Images.

But the response was no surprise.

“We knew the boys would be up for the challenge,” Chancellor said.

“We’ve traditionally been poor off the bye this year, it’s usually taken the group a week to readjust back to the level and that’s the beauty of this stage of the season you keep playing.

“They had all of their big names back in as well which meant for a great challenge. We beat them by a few points last time so we were confident going in.

“We got off to a fast start, we wanted to throw the first punch. We gave them nothing early and it set us up for the rest of the day.”

Darcy Weeks of the Jets. Photo: AFL Photos via Getty Images.

Joel Freeman of the Jets. Photo: AFL Photos via Getty Images.

Jaelen Pavlidis led the way across halfback with a team-high 24 disposals to continue his impressive campaign.

Meanwhile, Ned Conway (22 touches) and Jake Smith (20) were the only other Jets players to record more than 20 disposals.

Nineteen-year-old Billy Kolyniuk was impressive off halfback with 14 disposals, nine of which were rebound 50s.

Kolyniuk was able to break the game open with his elite foot skills.

Up forward, Jovan Petric continued to put himself in draft calculations with a four-goal performance.

“It’s hard to say who our better players are because it was such an even team performance,” Chancellor said.

“When we’re playing our best footy, it’s a very team-oriented game.”

Diesel Moloney. Photo: AFL Photos Getty Images.

The Jets will hope to continue their fairytale run when they face the Dandenong Stingrays, who finished third on the ladder, at Mars Stadium on Sunday at 11am.

“I don’t think we fear anyone,” Chancellor said.

“If we play our brand we’re going to give ourselves every chance of winning this weekend.”