Woodend-Hesket honours junior player with come-from-behind semi-final win

Following the passing of a junior player on the morning of its semi-final, Woodend-Hesket rallied for an emotional comeback win over Romsey.

Josh Pound in action for Woodend-Hesket. Picture: Hamish Blair

A devastating off-field loss fuelled Woodend-Hesket’s dramatic three-point semi-final win over Romsey on Sunday.

The Hawks kept their Riddell District season going with a gritty come-from-behind win at Gilbert Gordon Oval in extremely emotional scenes.

The club lost a junior player and good friend of several senior players, Harrison Duff, on the morning of the match.

In difficult circumstances, the players fought back from a 17-point half-time deficit to claim a 9.9 (63) to 8.12 (60) victory and progress to a preliminary final on Saturday.

Woodend-Hesket coach Josh Pound was in awe of his young players’ determination.

Riley Paterson in action for Woodend-Hesket. Picture: Hamish Blair

“We received some tragic news with the passing of one of our junior players overnight,” he said.

“It wasn’t the greatest preparation for the game, so with that, we were up against it and to hang on in the end was a credit to the guys, particularly Tobi Duff-Tytler.

“It made it an incredibly special win for the club, in the circumstances it was awesome.”

Romsey made a bright start to the match, jumping out to a 22-point lead at quarter-time before Woodend-Hesket found their feet.

The Hawks narrowly won the second quarter to keep the margin steady before taking control of the match in the second half.

The Redbacks were held to just one goal after half-time, which came in the dying minutes of the match.

In contrast, Woodend kicked three goals to edge in front by two points at three-quarter-time before holding firm in a tense final quarter.

The intense pressure in the second half impacted both clubs’ finishing with the Hawks kicking 4.7 and the Redbacks 1.5.

Tom Gawthrop in action for Woodend-Hesket. Picture: Andy Brownbill

“We got jumped and didn’t make the most of our entries going forward, which was similar to the week before,” Pound said.

“I was confident we were going to grind our way back into the game, which we did.

“We needed to pressure the ball carrier a bit more, they were getting some easy entries, especially out of centre clearance.

“When we addressed that, they had the ball in higher and that suited our backs and we were able to get our game going.”

Jack Arceri, Tom Gawthrop, Tom O’Loughlin and Kyle Baker all kicked two goals for Woodend-Hesket, while Romsey’s Corey Pertzel was the leading forward on the day with three majors.

Hawks star Tim Martin was outstanding in the ruck, helping swing momentum back his team’s way in midfield.

Cody Brown, Tobi Duff-Tytler impressed in defence, while skipper Alastair Rae excelled in a new role in attack.

“Cody has to play on the best forward every week, he’s often under-sized,” Pound said.

“He played on someone who’s a little bit more his size in Darcy Lockens this week who is one of their most dangerous forwards.

“Week-in, week-out he puts his body on the line, his defensive efforts are second to none and he doesn’t get a whole heap of the footy but has been terrific for us.

“For a young kid, Tobi’s competitiveness – he just hates losing – and his attack on the contest on the weekend – for an 18-year-old kid – he definitely doesn’t play like a young fella.

“You forget his age, when you talk about under-19s players in the seniors you forget him, he’s such a key part of our team and I love having him in there.

“Alastair has been a quality defender all year but from a balance perspective we thought it best for Tayte (Pears) to play back on (Jack) Jedwab and Al to play centre half-forward.

“His ability to cover ground, create a contest for us and run his opponent into the ground, it was really pleasing to see him accept that challenge.”

Pertzel was named Romsey’s best in to loss, while Ben Way, Jaxon Kinnear and Nathan Tessari were also strong.

The win sets up another clash against Wallan – the third time in four weeks.

The Magpies have snatched two-point and seven-point wins in the previous two meetings and are coming off a heart-breaking seven-point extra-time loss to Diggers Rest in the major semi-final.

Pound is confident his team has learnt its lessons from previous losses and ready to make a grand final.

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“It’s obviously going to be a big contest and they had a really competitive game on Saturday, which means the six-day break isn’t as much of a disadvantage,” he said.

“Their ability to get numbers behind the ball really hurt us in the (qualifying final) and we probably didn’t do enough to address their better marking defenders in Mannix and Gilchrist.

“We were pretty happy with that game from a stats perspective, we had a lot of indicators we won, but we missed a lot of opportunities and I felt like we were maybe a bit overawed by the first final.”

The preliminary final will be played at Romsey Park, first bounce at 2pm, with the winner to face Diggers Rest in the decider.