St Arnaud v Donald
With a grand final berth on offer for the winner of this contest St Arnaud got off to a better start than Donald and were keen to erase their loss of the previous week out of their minds and it wasn’t long before the Saints posted their first major score after a couple of missed attempts. Vassallo was their first goal scorer and this was quickly followed by a goal to Caleb Bloomer and the saints were away. Deep into the first term Haddow kicked the Royal Blues first and only goal for the term and then the Saints returned fire with goals to Nick Coghlan and Daniel Needs to give them a handy lead of nineteen points at quarter time.
Donald drew first blood in the second quarter when Seamus Young made no mistake from a set shot to reduce the Saints lead to around two goals before the Saints regrouped with goals coming from Nathan Coghlan and Adam Tipungwuti. Donald were finding it hard to break through the Saints backline and scoring opportunities were limited until Darcy Harrison found a way through the Saint’s defence to bring up their second goal for the quarter but the Saints Coach James McNamee dinted the Royal Blues confidence with a goal just prior to the half time break which seen the Saints leading by 30 points.
With a fair bit of catching up to do the Royal Blues got straight into action when Jackson Hogan kicked a timely goal in the opening minute of the third term but this was answered immediately by the Saints with Coghlan goaling from the centre clearance. With the margin favouring the Saints extending further the Royal Blues had to get their game going quickly or the game was going to slip away on them and it took a goal from their captain in Glenn Wyatt to get Donald back into the contest. This goal from Wyatt was a real team lifter and Donald pushed the ball forward again where Young swooped on to the ball and made no mistake but there was still a lot of work to do and their chances improved further when Jackson Hogan kicked the Royal Blues third goal to reduce the Saints lead back to sixteen points with a quarter to go.
Donald left the final huddle full of confidence which they were entitled to after the way they finished off the previous quarter. Reichman put the first goal of the term on the board and the lead was back to under two goals and then Jackson Hogan reduced the margin back to just four points with the Royals kicking five unanswered goals and the Saints supporters were getting a little nervous with Donald closing in. Tipungwuti gave the Saints a little bit of breathing space with the first of his two goals in the last quarter. It didn’t take Donald long to reply to the Saints goal as Murrie brought the Saints lead back to just one goal and we looked set for another close result. With Donald making a late run to secure a grand final berth the Saints had other ideas of their own and with three late goals to Tipungwuti, Needs and Cooper the Saints had booked a Grand Final berth against Charlton with a winning margin of 23-points.
Donald while disappointed in the loss nearly pulled off a remarkable season after finishing winless in 2014, for the Saints they get another opportunity to take home the Halfhide Cup when they line up against Charlton who will be playing in their third Grand Final in a row. Charlton’s last premiership was back in 2009 and for the Saints it will only be their second Grand Final appearance since winning the premiership in 1999 so both clubs will be keen to update their winning records.
CLICK HERE FOR SENIOR PHOTO'S FROM SATURDAY'S PRELIMINARY
St Arnaud 12-17= 89 def Donald 10-6=66
Best for the Saints: Wells, Caleb Bloomer, Durward, Tillig, Vassallo and Tipungwuti.
Goals: Tipungwuti 3, Needs, Nathan Coghlan 2, singles to Bloomer, Nick Coghlan, Vassallo, McNamee and Cooper.
Best for Donald: Fisher, Haddow, Garner, Newell, Pearce and Harberger. Goals: Hogan 3, Young 2, singles to Reichman, Wyatt, Haddow, Darcy Harrison and Murrie.
CLICK HERE FOR RESERVES PHOTO'S | CLICK HERE FOR UNDER 16'S PHOTO'S
Next Week’s Grand Finals at Wedderburn
9.30 am under 13’s Birchip-Watchem v Boort
10.55 am under 16’s Wedderburn v Birchip-Watchem
12.30 pm Reserves Wycheproof-Narraport v St Arnaud
2.30 pm Charlton v St Arnaud
Last Modified on 13/09/2015 20:33