A Nigel Lockyer Jr special shoots Rovers into their fifth grand final in as many years

Rovers dominated Federal in a one-sided CAFL second semi-final with Nigel Lockyer Jr leading from the front.

ROVERS’ pursuit of a fifth straight CAFL flag got a five-goal boost from spearhead Nigel Lockyer Jr in Saturday’s major semi-final.

Lockyer combined a big offensive game (5.6 and three posters) with 10 contested marks and six tackles to lead the way in the Double Blues’ 14.16 (100) to 4.7 (31) win over Federal.

Rovers coach Damien Hall liked what he saw from his players as they shoot for a fifth flag under his tutelage.

Nigel Lockyer Jr in a Thunder jumper. The Rovers spearhead destroyed Federal in the CAFL second semi-final.

Only Federal with six flags in a row from 1958-63 and Pioneer’s five straight wins from 1965-69 stand alongside Rovers’ extraordinary record since beating Federal in the 2017 decider.

“That win was our best performance of the year and by a long way,’’ Hall said.

“All 22 players contributed to a four-quarter performance, with Nigel in super form where he often had two opponents and still came out on top.’’

And while Lockyer received most of the kudos from the coaching staff and the fans, Gareth Remfrey’s work around the ball was instrumental in keeping the ball in Rovers’ forward line.

The win shoots Rovers into the September 11 grand final against the winner of Saturday’s Federal-Wests knockout preliminary final.

Federal coach Izaak Ankers conceded the 69-point loss was not his side’s greatest performance in a season where they finished second on the ladder after the minor rounds.

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“But we’re a pretty proud group at the footy club and we’ll be back, the most important game is your next one and we’ll make sure of that.’’

Henry Impu and Waylon Manson will come into the side after missing the semi-final.

West Alice Springs’ rise up the ladder this season continued when they beat Pioneer by 22 points in Saturday night’s elimination final.

The Shaun Cusack coached Bloods broke away from Pioneer in the important second and third quarters.

Wests booted four goals in the second term and three in the third through a combination of fast, play-on football to grab a 39-point lead at three quarter time.

The Bloods took their foot off the accelerator in the last term when the Eagles kicked four goals to one to add some respectability to the scores.

Zeron Wayne across half back, Henry Labastida around the ball and former Rovers goalkicker Tosh Kunoth through the middle were all big contributors for Wests.

Labastida, a premiership player with NTFL club St Mary’s, was rapt to win a final with his old side.

“Shaun told us in the rooms afterwards we hadn’t won a final for a while, so it will be good to take that form into the final with Federal.’’