Match Report - Grand Final
Belconnen v Queanbeyan
Belconnen: 7.13. 55
Queanbeyan: 8. 5. 53
The day started early for most Magpie players as a huge thunder storm broke over Canberra at approx 1:30am bringing with it a deluge of rain as well as the customary noise and lightning. But once the sun was rising we were greeted with nice sunshine and expectations that the game might not be too affected by the weather. Unfortunately this was not the case with Canberra putting on 4 seasons in 4 quarters of football.
At the start of the game the conditions were mildly wet and Belconnen adapted, putting on 4 goals prior to Queanbeyan scoring. We knew the tigers were traditionally slow starters during the year so we wanted to apply pressure early and maintain this throughout the game. Some squandered opportunities from close range meant that we didn’t take advantage as much as we could and were wasteful kicking 4. 5. 29 to 1.1 7 at quarter time.
In the second quarter a howling gale came up to assist Queanbeyan in their attempts to make a game of it, and to their credit they did. They kicked 4.2 for the quarter and were well lead by Jordan Longmore who for a big man was quite mobile and moved very well and positioned himself well in a contest. He kicked all 4 goals for the quarter and was looking to assert his dominance on the game when the Magpies hit back late in the quarter with a goal to Mick Henry to maintain a very slender lead at half time.
The half time rooms were a little negative and also a little concerning as the players came to grips with letting Queanbeyan back into the game. This was compounded when we left the rooms after half time to find another storm had come over the ground and would assist Queanbeyan in trying to halt Belconnen scoring power with the breeze. Belconnen kicked a wasteful 1. 5 in the 3rd quarter mainly due to the conditions allowing Queanbeyan to shut the game down, but Belconnen still held a 12 point advantage and in those conditions it might have been enough.
At ¾ time the players were probably feeling the effects of playing only their 2 game in 5 weeks due to the abnormalities in the “draw”. However the players knew what was at stake in this game, and urged by coach Brendan Read understood that holding on was going to be hard but winning the game was always foremost in their minds and all understood what was required to win this game of football.
The Belconnen faithful might have been forgiven for believing that the reserves had rolled over as they gave up the 12 point advantage in the first 5 minutes of the last quarter. The tigers were coming home with a wet sail but Belconnen refused to give in, and maintained what pressure they could. The scores were locked at 47 a piece for 15 minutes of the last quarter and after squandering a couple of opportunities to score a major, you could just sense that Belconnen were arresting the momentum back. Belconnen had fought hard in the back line to hold on and were just taking the football to our end of the ground and the advantage was palpable.
When Jeremy Brodie-Reed centred the football and Matt Byatt had drifted forward and marked 12 meters, unfortunately for Matt his kick wasn’t true and he hit the post. In their rush to get the football back down their end of the ground the Tigers bombed it down the middle, Liam Early trapped the ball, knocked it to our advantage, recovered the football again and bombed it back into attack from 60meters out, bouncing it in the goal square and all watched it roll through for a major. With another 5 minutes left our players commitment could never be questioned as player after player lined up to make every contest a winner. Our supporters hearts were in their mouths again, when the umpires gifted Queanbeyan another opportunity to get close, they took advantage and it was a 2 point game with 1 minute to go. A couple of ball ups later and Belconnen reserves are holding a premiership cup. we fought extremely hard throughout the day and with the conditions, lack of match fitness, all conspiring against us i think we did an exceptional job.
Best players were David McPhan who rucked gallantly in wet conditions, our back line of Adam Garrett, Jono VanDeiman and Justin Lalor in their last games for the club. Our captain Anthony Whittard was also exceptional.
To our supporters we thank you.
Last Modified on 16/10/2008 10:26