St Mary’s show their finals hunger after powering past Waratah in the knockout NTFL semi-final
DESPITE changes to their line-up, St Mary’s powered into the preliminary final after winning against Waratah in the knockout semi-final.
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DESPITE changes to their lineup St Mary’s powered into the preliminary final after winning 14.9 (93) to 10.7 (67) against Waratah in the knock out semi-final.
Matters were fiery from the off with Tah’s star Abe Ankers getting into a bit of niggle with the Saints’ ruck operators Brandyn Grenfell and Kieren Parnell.
It was the Green Machine that made the first impression on the scoreboard with key forward Jackson Calder shooting the opener.
Decisive runs down the wing from Lachlan Taylor gave his forward line plenty of ball and soon Daly Andrews and Justin Robinson had a goal each to build an early lead.
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But a quick fire brace from Dylan Collis put the Tahs right back into the contest and back in touching distance.
A show of athleticism from 2017 Nichols Medalist Tim Mosquito prevented an almost sure goal from Jack Landt.
That defensive pressure saw another surge from the red and whites with Cam Arnold scoring a brace of his own.
Early third quarter intensity from Waratah moving the ball down the field saw another goal in their favour this time for Rob Turnbull.
But Saints weathered the storm never letting go of the lead through the middle of the game and found themselves back on the front foot in the third quarter.
Calder was a constant target up front while Dylan Landt and Tylah Saunders provided a solid surface in defence giving little room for the Tahs in the later stages of the matches.
“It’s pretty unreal. This is my first finals win up here in Darwin with Saints and it was a great team effort,” Taylor told the NT News.
“Our speed on the outside of the contest was massive for us. We knew they were come out being a good, tough side but we stuck to it throughout as a team.
“Our fitness is pretty unreal at the moment. We just keep running and want to keep working so we can improve each week in finals.
“Our midfield played really well while our backs kept them to 67 points which was a good effort from them.”
A late fourth quarter injury to Jacob Long will have the Saints faithful concerned who was with the young gun stretchered off.
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Junk time goals gave Waratah some respectability on the scoreboard with Brodie Carroll managing a brace but the score was too much for the chasing side to come back against.
SCORES:
ST MARY’S: 4.2 6.6 9.8 14.9 (93)
WARATAH: 2.3 4.3 5.5 10.7 (67)
BEST:
ST MARY’S: J Calder N Paredes D Landt L Taylor D Andrews
WARATAH: T Mosquito D Collis A Kirby C Arnold R Turnbull
GOALS:
ST MARY’S: J Calder 6 J Williams 2 N Paredes N Yarran J Robinson A Parry B Grenfell D Andrews
WARATAH: C Arnold 3 B Carroll 2 D Collis 2 S Godden M Blake R Turnbull
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