Huonville overruns bitter rivals Cygnet to claim first premiership since 2008
Huonville has recovered from blowing a huge first-half to run over the top of Cygnet in a classic SFL grand final at North Hobart Oval.
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THE pain of consecutive SFL grand final defeats was washed away in the driving rain at North Hobart as Huonville ended a 12-year premiership drought against Cygnet.
Not since 2008 — the last year before the introduction of the TSL and New Norfolk’s return to local football — had the Lions tasted glory, but they reclaimed their throne after a titanic struggle against their arch rivals.
Having led by 25 points during time-on in the second quarter, Huonville found itself nine points in arrears at the six-minute mark of the last stanza after a Jordan Lane bomb from 55m bounced through.
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But as has become custom in the Huon battles, the Lions dug deep to arrest the momentum before rattling home the last six goals to run out 13.7 (85) to 8.9 (57) victors.
A key turning point came at the 10-minute mark when the Port looked to switch the play in its backline, but a fumbled mark in the slippery conditions allowed Michael Paul to swoop on the mistake and skid through his fourth major.
It was the lift the Lions needed after Cygnet had done all the early attacking in the fourth quarter, and when Matthew Schenk goaled off the ground in the goalsquare shortly after to put his side back in front the floodgates opened.
William Leitch medallist Ethan Brock (four goals) and Dylan Hay (two) shared the last four majors between them, running over a tiring Port who had almost single-handedly been dragged back into the contest by Thor Boscott.
“The boys have worked so hard, we were challenged in that last quarter and to really fight back, the boys kept coming and kept piling those goals on,” coach Tim Lamprill said.
“They had a fair dinkum crack all day.
“In grand finals you never feel safe, we needed to work really hard and play a one-on-one brand of footy with the conditions.
“Knowing we were going to be kicking to this end [Letitia Street], it is generally the scoring end, I was confident if we got some things right, some execution, we were guaranteed a chance to have a crack at them again.
“The boys came of age and got the job done.”
After a hotly contested opening quarter where the two sides traded goals, the Lions got the jump with four straight majors in the second term as they threatened to blow the match apart.
But against the tide, Boscott steadied via a 50m penalty and when Josh Fox (three goals) converted a set shot shortly after the margin was cut to 11 points at the long break.
Boscott — who had a two-week suspension for a dangerous tackle thrown out by the SFL tribunal earlier in the week — and Fox kicked the only goals of the third stanza as Cygnet snatched the lead and when Lane’s long-range effort bounced through, the Lions had their backs to the wall.
But they recovered to erase the 2018 and ’19 defeats by Lindisfarne.
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