Panton Hill wins first home game since 2019, upsetting St Mary’s

The wait has been almost three years but Panton Hill finally got to sing the song in front of their home fans after upsetting St Mary’s.

Tim Duckworth in action for Panton Hill. Picture: David Crosling

Panton Hill belted out the song on Saturday after breaking a 1043-day drought.

For the first time since Round 18, 2019, the Redbacks claimed a win in front of their fans at Cracknell Reserve, knocking off finals contender St Mary’s by 12 points.

The club had won five games since earning promotion to NFL Division 2 three years ago but none had come at home – until Saturday.

It was also Panton Hill coach Simon Amore’s first home win and he said it was a relief to finally get the monkey of the back.

“Since I started we haven’t had a chance to sing the song at home is a big moment for the football club for sure.

Tim Duckworth and Scott Conte returned for Panton Hill. Picture: Supplied

“There’s so many people that put in a lot of time behind the scenes so it’s awesome to get that reward for them, to see a home victory and sing the song.

“Scores may not have reflected it at times but we’ve been trending the right way and the boys are probably sick of me telling them that.

“The way we’ve been training and building, we did feel it was within our grasp and it all came together, which was awesome.”

The return of three premiership players was critical in the Redbacks’ 8.20 (68) to 8.8 (56) victory.

In his second game since returning from the US, 2019 grand final medallist Daniel Freeman was named best-on-ground in the win, while Scott Conte and Tim Duckworth were also key contributors in their first game since 2021.

Returned junior Charlie Cleary also impressed at centre half-back.

“We’ve had Freezer back for the last couple, he’d been overseas in the US for the first half of the year,” Amore said.

“We had Scott and Tim back in too so to get three experienced bodies back and guys that can use the footy well gives you that little bit extra experience, which helped late in the game.

“The boys walk a little bit taller when you have premiership players back in the team.”

“Charlie’s a really good story for us, because he is a Panton Hill junior but had to go across to Lower Plenty and was captain of the under-19s there.

“We knew we had to improve our defensive stocks so we got into him pretty heavily and were able to get him across, he’s fearless, does the role you ask of him and attacks the ball as hard as anyone.”

St Mary’s held a seven-point lead at half-time but were overrun in the second half as Panton Hill piled on five goals to three.

The Redbacks’ inaccuracy kept the match close, kicking 2.7 in the last term, but it proved enough.

The Hillmen will look to make it two home wins on the trot when Epping visit on Saturday but Amore is keen for his players not to get ahead of themselves.

“We identified this block as a really important part of the season and next week is big a game we’ve had,” he said.

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“We did something similar last season, we knocked over St Mary’s at their ground and came out the next week and got rolled by Fitzroy.

“We made a point of that after the game, to enjoy what we did but to focus on the next game because I’m sure Epping will see this as an opportunity as well.”

Lachlan Read was named St Mary’s best in defeat, while Zane Costello, Matt Coen and Mitch Green were also strong contributors.

The Burras will look to bounce back against Fitzroy Stars and keep a hold of fifth spot.