While we all know its a team game and rarely do we individualise but gee it was great to see Jimmy Brain overcome injury to run out at 2pm with the boys, as in the space of 120 minutes he kicked 4.5, took close to the mark of the year (pic right - click to enlarge) and performed the most crucial of chase down tackles witnessed by the Noosa faithful.
But let that not take away anything from the other 21 players who all played vital roles in spoiling, smothering, tackling, marking, goalkicking and generally just hanging in there against an opponent that just kept coming and coming.
The match opened with Burleigh kicking the first two goals against what was a 4-5 goal wind favouring the South (when isn't it windy at Fisherman's Road?)
In the difficult conditions, our Tigers wrestled the intiative back from the Bombers and ended the first quarter with a 13 point lead which meant much was to be done in the next 30 minutes to stay in the match.
With Trompfy injecting some drive in the ruck, Cubby just working his butt off as usual, Zac Smith providing options (a great 3 matches Zac - 1 to go) as well as Luke Matthews doing the hard stuff in tight, our boys battled out the quarter to go to the main break with the scores level.
In the Third Noosa took the bit between their teeth and after the Bombers kicked the first major of the term, kicked 6 goals to 2 to take a 28 point lead with only a quarter to go. Brett Duke was just great in this term in both kicking 2 goals and presenting for every forward thrust. Adam Eady who has been great this year also came into the game and Adam Bovalino defended stoutly, whilst Rabbit continued his great form with tough work and smart footy as well.
In the last it was heart medication time as Burleigh seemed on the verge of catching and running past us, but with great character and effort our boys ground out a historic victory to reach back-to-back Grand Finals. Great to see Jezza Kennaugh get plenty of it as well as Chris Burke who was rusty early and Todd Panoho returned to his forceful 'ball in front' approach as well.
In fact it was great in many ways to go through our team sheet to see that while some of the boys had ups and downs, not one player didn't have some positive moments which should have you all going into the big one with great confidence boys.
JR will also relish the chance to play 120 minutes in the big one after missing a chunk of the game after an early knock on Saturday
Footy is a funny game and whilst many will think that a struggle against the 5th placed Bombers is a sign towards the Grand Final, don't believe it for a minute.
The big one is a 50/50 bet and I can't wait to see our great group of young men fly the flag for Noosa from the first bounce on Saturday.
For plenty of great photos of the Preliminary Final - CLICK HERE
Noosa 5 4 5 7 11 11 12 15 (87)
Burleigh 3 3 5 7 7 7 12 10 (82)
Noosa
Goal Kickers: J. Brain 4, B. Duke 3, Z. Smith 2, A. Eady , C. Isles , B. Page
Best Players: J. Brain, P. Trompf, C. Isles, A. Bovalino, Z Smith, L. Matthews
Burleigh
Goal Kickers: P. Lobb 3, L. Edmondson 3, J. Butt 2, M. Powell 2, N. Sullivan 2
Best Players: T. Sutherland, S. Fletcher, J. Chenhall, L. Edmondson, H. Priest, L. Rowe
Last Modified on 30/12/2010 13:13