Lauderdale locked in for TSL Grand Final following comeback win over Clarence in thrilling preliminary final clash

Saturday’s TSL Preliminary Final clash was a contest for the ages following a five-goal comeback from the eventual victors. See the wrap.

James Bealey (Clarence) and Cambell Hooker (Lauderdale) do battle in the preliminary final. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

They’ve saluted in the penultimate game of the season before but Lauderdale produced arguably its greatest ever TSL victory in Saturday’s preliminary final with a thrilling one-point win over Clarence.

Storming home from 27 points down at halftime, the Bombers ended on the right side of 11.12 (78) to 11.11 (77) score line to hand the Roos their fourth consecutive preliminary final defeat and lock in another grand final date with North Launceston.

The two club’s contested three straight deciders from 2017 to 2019 with North victorious on every occasion.

The premiership favourite in the eyes of many heading into the season, Lauderdale showed exactly why in the second-half with a four-goal to one third term cutting the margin to just seven points at the final change.

A miraculous stoppage goal in traffic to inspirational leader Bryce Walsh early in the last quarter cut the margin to a point and while it wasn’t the major that won Lauderdale the game, the momentum it produced for the victors means it’s one that will be remembered as the difference.

Josh McGuinness (Lauderdale) appeared to play through with injury in the second-half. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

With scores tied at the 17 minute mark, Jordan Lane kicked truly to give Lauderdale a lead they’d been chasing since the 22 minute mark of the first quarter and despite fellow tall Cam Hooker joining the party with another minutes later, this contest still had further chapters to write.

A goal to former Clarence skipper Jarrod Harper from the next stoppage dragged the deficit back to six points with a behind to Andrew Phillips deep in red time proving to ultimately be the difference.

It gave Lauderdale a seven-point lead and with the Roos going end-to-end for a Josh Green goal from the kick-out seconds before the siren sounded, it was Phillips’ wayward shot that ultimately gave the Bombers a chance at an elusive state league premiership next Saturday.

After losing coach Allen Christensen through injury pre-game, Walsh and Josh McGuinness also fought through injury concerns with McGuinness spending large chunks of the second-half forward and playing through what appeared to be a groin or leg concern.

Walsh copped a hard bump to his shoulder midway through the last quarter but despite being sore, he confirmed post-game he would be fine for next week.

A proud but measured Christensen had quickly shifted his attention to their impending date with North post-game but was reflective of what the win meant for the club.

“We’ve got 46 blokes going up the highway now to hopefully win a couple of flags,” he said.

“Just the effort the group put in today was enormous. Our backs were against the wall (in the first-half) and we feel like it’s been that way for periods this year just in terms of how we performed early in the season following how we’d recruited in the off-season.

Lauderdale coach Allen Christensen has put the Bombers through to a grand final in just his second year at the helm. Picture: Chris Kidd

“We’ve really grinded out the back-half of the season though and we are going to give ourselves every chance against North Launceston.

“It’s hard to describe how it feels to lock in a grand final but we will go up with the all the belief we can achieve something pretty special next week.”

Suffering a slight hamstring injury in the build up to Saturday, Christensen confirmed he would return against the Northern Bombers with the win ensuring his time at Lauderdale could still be capped off with a fairytale finish.

“This isn’t really about me but we did speak about something similar at halftime,” he said.

“Just that this may be the last time this group plays together, so why don’t we play for each other and I think that showed in the result.”

Tyler Martin, skipper Nat Franklin and Phillips were all terrific for the victors while Clarence defender Tom Cleary held Lane to just two majors for the game.

Lauderdale will now have both a senior and development league side in grand finals next weekend with the Bombers to play North Hobart in the twos’ decider.