Finals Round 1 Match Review, 2022
Senior Men's Match Report
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Old Haileybury 11.13-79
Fitzroy 10.13-73
Seniors Match Report from the weekend.
First week of finals kicked off on the weekend as we travelled to Coburg to take on Fitzroy in a Semi Final.
Having beaten our opposition comfortably recently our confidence was high going into the clash but finals are a different story.
Piranha Park had a great surface for the players and there was a strong wind blowing to the left of screen.
In the first quarter the Bloods were kicking into it and held on well to lead by 1 point at the first change.
The pressure from both teams was high and ball movement was proving difficult in the conditions.
With the breeze in the 2nd term at our backs we maximised our opportunities and stretched our lead to 26 points at one stage. Disappointingly we gave up the last 2 goals of the quarter through our own errors and Fitzroy had cut the margin to 14 points at the long break.
When we come out for the second half the wind had gotten stronger, and it was going to prove difficult to score going into it. This proved the case as we were held scoreless for the first time this year and our opposition had their noses in front and led by 16 points with a term to go.
Finishing higher on the ladder and having two comfortable victories against Fitzroy this year things were not going to plan but we had 30 minutes to turn it all around. The key to the last quarter was making sure the ball spent most of the time in our forward half and we needed to put the score on the board when we created our chances.
The start of the quarter was frustrating as we had a lot of the play but could only add behinds to our total.
After 2 inspirational goals from Duz and 1 from Munners we had our noses in front and led by 6 points with around 5 minutes to go. As had been the case all day our opposition continued to fight and after a strong mark from one of their mids they levelled the scores back at 73 apiece.
From here both sets of players were giving everything they had. We were lucky enough that we got the ball into on our forward line and for Jack Lonie to swoop on it and bang home the sealer from 45 metres out on the run.
When the final siren rang out, we had bravely come from behind to win our final by that one Lonie goal.
Whilst we did not play the footy that we set out to full credit goes to Fitzroy for not letting us display the type of form we have over the last month. We take plenty of learnings from the clash but also a confidence that when things are looking grim, we can still get it done.
Individually Brede Secculls last term was inspirational to his mates, and he had a massive influence on us getting the win.
Lones was his usual dangerous self again dealing with close attention from the opposition but still one of our most influential on the day.
Jack Munro was very good from start to finish and Lach Treverton gave us great effort all day around the contest.
We now move on to take on Beaumaris in the Preliminary Final at Elsternwick on Saturday at 2.15.
This game is for all the marbles to get into a Grand Final and our boys cannot wait.
After last week being outnumbered by Fitzroy supporters, we look forward to getting as many numbers as possible down to cheer on our lads and watch as they compete for a spot in the GF.
See you there.
Go Bloods.