On a hot Grand Final day at Fisherman’s Road, our Tigers ran through the huge banner (well done everyone) ready to do battle - and after the warm up and national anthem that was exactly what happened in the opening quarter.
Clearly Jay Reynolds had a target on his head and the first 5 minutes saw bodies charging in at both the ball and the body. A couple of exchanges saw both Tigers and Lions asked to have a 15 minute “rest”.
All in all, to take a 1 goal lead at quarter time with the most frantic period of the game behind us wasn’t a bad position to be in.
Palmy came out of the blocks strongly in the second stanza and our back half was under severe pressure. It was indicative that on grand final night our six ‘award’ players included Gary Wallace, Batesy, Bova and Brad Kearney as these guys with the support of their mates repelled Palmy attacks and rebounded to create counter-pressure.
Half time was a chance to draw breath and plot a second half that would turn around Palmy’s 9 point lead.
The third quarter was a case of Noosa not being able to create momentum by putting together a couple of goals in succession and even though we threatened at times, we were just not firing on all cylinders and our 2 goals to their 3 in this quarter saw the Lions holding a 16 point three quarter time lead.
Early goals to Palmy had us pushing uphill for the final 30 minutes and as time elapsed we were living more in hope that the boys could close the gap and hit the front.
Even in defeat we were all proud of our gallant boys and this writer has seen many a Grand Final like this one turn into a rout as the trailing side loses effort and hope – not Noosa and not this group of 22 young men who gave their all until the final siren.
You get into Grand Finals to win them but that should not distract from a fine season, and may we get the chance to play in another very soon so that the lessons learned are able to be put into practice to bring a cup home to Weyba Road.
Noosa 2.2 5.4 7.8 10.10 (70)
Palm Beach 1.2 6.7 9.12 14.16 (100)
Goal kickers: Mick Gafa 3, Brooks Durdin 2, Jay Reynolds, Ryan Jeffery, Luke Tyrell, Scott Maddern, Matt Hicks 1 each
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Last Modified on 04/11/2009 09:48