Division 1 SAFL
Mac Uni Warriors 8.10.58 defeated by Manly 9.6.60
The Warriors took on Manly in the First Semi with the winner to face UTS in the Preliminary Final after they suffered a shock loss to Sydney Uni the day before.
Manly had won both games convincingly during the home and away season however the young Warriors were confident of an upset on a ground more suited to their running & fast ball movement style of game. We made only one change from the previous week with Phil Hare’s knee injury not improving enough for him to get through Thursday night training. As such Drew Burden came into the side as our rotation backman.
Once gain the Warriors entered the ground after listening to a Luke Gemmill special audio compilation and the boys were fired up. Kev Jones gave good tap service to the on ballers early and our midfield were able to get on top thus providing quick service to the forwards. Club legend Donnie Ollington limped off early with a strained hamstring and would play no further part in the game. It was a great effort to just get out there considering he is carrying a serious rib cartilage injury which was wrapped in 3 layers of strapping & tape.
Brett Harland was looking dangerous early whilst the turnover pressure of James Brackin and Andrew Polkinghorne was first class. Tim Scoular dominated along the half back line and took numerous contested and well read uncontested marks to repel the Manly attack.
Half way through the 2nd quarter a big collision between Brett Harland and James Coburn led to both players going down and with Donnie already out this would be the start of our bench looking like a first aid tent in a war zone for the remaining 2 quarters.
Our slender 9 point lead at half time was just reward for solid first half. 20 contested ball wins in the first quarter followed up by 40 in the 2nd showed we were slowly getting on top of the strong Manly side.
With Manly heading towards the scoring end in the third quarter we were happy to scrap it out and look to run over the top of them in the last quarter. However it was the Warriors who kicked the first goal of the 3rd quarter and extended our lead even further. Unfortunately from hereon in it was all Manly in the 3rd with the Wolves applying plenty of pressure on our backline which lead to scoreboard pressure.
Captain Dean Connors was next to go down after twisting his already fractured ankle and with Deano going straight to the rooms it was now up to Brad Moore, Dylan Brogan and Brodie Cooper to run unchanged for the next quarter half on the ball.
At the end of the 3rd quarter the players were asked to dig deep and fight their way to a miracle win. Dean Connors and Brett Harland found some magic vitamins in their bags and put their hand up to play the last quarter with the season on the line. Both were thrown forward on one leg with a few people commenting that Club Almanac Ian “Wrighty” Wright could now beat them in a sprint over 20m.
The wind had sprung up and the players dug deep. Slowly but surely we edged ourselves in front and when Scottie Cations goaled it was a 2 goal lead with 5 mins to play. Manly came back as they had all game and kicked one more to bring the game back to less than a goal.
It was at this moment that Carter Mullins laid a strong tackle and in the process broke his jaw. In a show of how committed the boys were to getting the win, the 2009 Premiership Skipper stayed out there (ala Rugby League Legend Johnny Sattler) and finished the game.
The Warriors then had a few chances to win the game in the dying moments before Manly moved the ball forward with 20 seconds to go and their full forward who had been well held by Nathan Sullivan marked 25m out in front. The siren sounded and despite the Warriors working the mark to perfection a great pressure kick from the full forward won the game for Manly by 2 points and in doing so knocked the Warriors out of contention for back to back premierships.
The players, coaches, supporters and medical staff were all extremely disappointed and it was a quiet dressing room with a few tears shed. This playing group had come so far in 2 years and were so close to pulling off what would have been one of the great wins in the history of MUAFC.
Best on Ground: Dylan Brogan, Tim Scoular, Andrew Polkinghorne, Geoff Clarke, Brodie Cooper, Brad Moore, Dean Connors, James Brackin, Carter Mullins, Nathan Sullivan
Last Modified on 08/09/2010 11:17