It was with nervous confidence that I anticipated a day at the footy watching the Preliminary Final between Monty and North. Mont’s record in finals was again in question after the debacle that was the Second Semi, and the North supporters knew it and were taunting the Monty faithful with the choking signs. Mont knew they had a good record against North in both the home and away and finals, so there was something calming in that knowledge as I took my place on the boundary and set up the camera.
The day started bathed in sunshine with a 3-4 goal wind blowing to the Cramer St end of the ground. The umpires tossed the coin in the centre of the ground and Daniel “Bomber” Keenan won the toss and elected to kick against the wind in the first quarter, and the scene was set for first up a defensive effort.
The NFL decided that the game needed three central umpires, two of them the same central umpires from the Second Semi. The Mont supporters were clearly not happy about this while the North supporters revelled in the thought that their team may only have to play against 14 players in the last quarter. With the appointment of the Second Semi umpires to officiate this game, people in the crowd may have thought Mont would be too scared to go near a North player in fear of being sent off and that this game may not be the physical contest football is famous for. It didn’t take long for that fear to be alleviated as the Mont players didn’t appear to have that same fear and treated the umpires and opponents with respect and it was game on.
In the windy conditions it must have been a consideration for the Mont coaches to be negative and drop back a sweeper across the backline so as to minimise the advantage North could have with the possibility of them establishing an early lead for Mont to chase down. Instead any observer at the ground would have thought Mont was kicking with the wind as the team set up positions to attack before the first siren making a mockery of the conditions.
It was clear the tactic today was the best form of defence is attack, and to attack and win the game from the first minute. From the opening bounce a Daniel King tap to Bomber who then found Jonathon Byron who played on quickly to find Wayne Pavitt 50 meters out on a lead had North on the back foot in the opening seconds. While the kick from Pavitt didn’t make the distance to goal, North were already defending and then tried to play a short game with the wind and control the tempo of the play.
It took until the third minute for any score, and that was a rushed behind to Mont as both Derryn Stanley and Pavitt were tackling hard and causing the North backs unexpected pressure as they handballed through for a point rather than take on the Mont forwards. The resulting kick in saw the ball move out to the flank where Shane Harvey “Tunnelled” Mark McGough right in front of the umpire giving the umpire no option but to award the free kick. Mark played on quickly to find Ambrose Swindon who marked uncontested and played on quickly to find Pavitt again on the lead as he marked in almost exactly the same spot as before. Pavitt who was too far out against the wind two minutes earlier set for the shot to find Daniel King one on one in the goal square with Ambrose also there unmarked. King marked on the goal line almost uncontested and his goal from point blank range against the wind gave Monty a dream start. North hit back immediately from the centre bounce when a slick handball released Harvey who goaled on the run from out side 50 meters. All this and we hadn’t even crossed the four minute mark. This was promising to be a cracker of a game.
The next eight minutes of the quarter was an arm wrestle as both teams ran at each other. North seemed to be taking the long way home around the boundary on the pavilion side of the ground while Mont used the far side and crossed to the middle as often as possible. Neither team could score a goal while Mont with set shots from Pavitt and King were struggling against the wind. North rushed behinds to Mont while the Mont backline of Andy Owen, Dean Loney, Jarrod McGough, Sam Floreani, Mark McGough and Matt Cusack controlled the North forward 50 meters arch and prevented any score at all.
The deadlock was finally broken on the twelve minute mark when a fast break through the middle of the ground from Bomber found Brent Gutterson who handballed long to an unmarked running Byron who ran into the open goal to give Mont a nine points lead. Three minutes later North answered with a good goal of their own as they ran at Mont forcing the ball through and closing the gap to five points.
With only five minutes left in the quarter North had started to get their game working but just couldn’t take advantage of the wind assistance while Mont seemed fearless into the wind and were not afraid to kick long to contests such was the confidence the Mont boys showed in each other. Jarrod McGough and Jonathon Byron were clearly best on ground, but there were many Mont players vying for best including Matt Neill, Pavitt and King.
The ball was spending a lot of time in the Mont forward 50 meters, but being able to convert all the hard work into goals was a visible frustration to the Mont forwards as the 50/50 decisions went the defenders way. The tackles were fierce and frequent and the ball spent a lot of time on the ground in stoppages. It was at one of these stoppages 25 meters from the Mont goal that the third goal was scored when King’s tap found a running Gutterson who snapped across his body and kicked truly for goal and the margin was back out to eleven points.
The last goal for the quarter was scored when Daniel Santoro broke the North line and deftly chip passed to Brett Hayes on the lead. Hayes kicked truly from 35 meters and Mont had kicked four goals against the wind to North’s two with the wind and the Mont crowd was very loud and happy.
Mont 4 6 30 North 2 0 12
In stark contrast to the first quarter, the second quarter started in heavy rain. The sun was gone as dark clouds had descended on Preston City Oval and the crowd had scampered under cover in the grandstand. When the umpire bounced the ball it was immediately apparent the wind had picked up as the ball moved in the air towards the Cramer St end of the ground. Some good work by both the McGough’s saw the ball kicked 20 meters from goal where Swindon stood front and square and goaled from the loose ball. With only a minute gone the lead was out to twenty four points.
The rain made the Mont lead look like it was a ten goal lead, as handling of the ball became impossible. This put North almost out of the contest as their game plan of chip the ball and control the tempo was never going to work in wet conditions. North did start to try and cross though the centre, but the skill handing errors were proving costly as players like Owen, the McGoughs and Neill, made North pay for their mistakes.
After five minutes of scrappy football where neither team was making any headway, a North kick in from a behind was kicked to a contest where Mont through David Attard won the contest and was able to pin point pass to Matt Reinke who was standing alone 35 meters from goal on the boundary line. This shot would be hard on a perfect football day, but Reinke was cool and calm and kicked Mont’s sixth goal and the lead was now thirty one points. Two minutes later Pavitt swooped on a loose ball deep in the forward pocket and snapped Mont’s seventh goal and the crowd yelled its approval.
If North was going to have any chance of winning then they had to move now. With half the quarter gone they still hadn’t troubled the scoreboard while Mont had kicked three goals. If North went into the half time break too much further down on the scoreboard there would be little chance of them winning the game. The prayer was answered when a pack mark was taken by Florance in the goal square to give North their third goal and a feint glimmer of hope as the margin was brought back to thirty one points.
The rain finally stopped and so too the wind died down as well. Though the conditions had improved, the ball was still wet and heavy and caused even the best players handling troubles. When Tim Watson found himself clear with the ball on the half back line, he kicked long to Jarrod McGough who took a brilliant mark and played on immediately to find Hayes on the lead. Hayes on a slight angle twenty meters out kicked the ball through the middle and Mont had answered the North challenge. Two minutes later Daniel Santoro laid a brilliant tackle and was rewarded with the ensuing free kick on the North half forward line. He kicked long to Byron who marked strongly and played on quickly looking for Hayes. The ball missed its target, but waiting at ground level was Pavitt who replicated his earlier snap shot and got himself another goal and extended Mont’s lead to forty three points.
There was still a long way to go in the quarter and the crowd could sense Mont was now going to move in for the kill. The scoreboard was looking incredibly similar to the round 18 clash at the Kennel where Mont had the game sewn up at half time, and the Mont supporters loved it. As the ground was drying out the ball was spending more time in the air and again the skill level from both teams kicked up another gear. North was able to work the ball round the outer wing where the ball ended up in Harvey’s hands 30 meters from goal. Harvey rarely misses and this was no exception as North got their second goal for the quarter and fourth for the game.
The heavens opened again, but this made little difference to the small men on the ground. Attard again proved his class on the ground as he delivered the ball to Stanley who juggled a mark 30 meters out from goal and from a set shot kicked Mont’s tenth goal. The margin was again forty three points and the quarter wasn’t over. With the skill levels again being effected by the rain, the Mont small men again combined as Mark McGough had passed to Watson who handballed to a running Jarrod Mcgough and the pass found Attard to give Attard a mark and a shot on goal from 30 meters on a 45 degree angle. Attard goaled and the game was now out of reach of North barring a miracle. North scored one last goal for the quarter but the damage had been done with the half time lead to Mont of forty one points.
Mont 11 8 74 North 5 3 33
Although the rain stopped during the half time break, it was back with vengeance at the start of the third quarter and it didn’t stop for the first twelve minutes. With no goals scored during that time North was no doubt getting desperate as their time with the wind was disappearing. This desperation created open football that made the game more enjoyable to watch and had the ball rebounding from end to end. Finally the rain stopped and Byron with courage showed everyone how to win a contest. He challenged the North defence as he ran at the ball only to be felled with a high tackle. The resulting free gave Byron a shot 20 meters out from goal and gave him the opportunity to start nailing the North coffin shut. Mont now had their twelfth goal and was more than double North’s score.
The wind had died and with it any advantage North could have had. Mont kept pushing the ball forward and the ball spent more time in the Mont forward 50 meters than on any other part of the ground. Eventually the pressure was too much and Attard was able to dance around the defenders to handball release Loney who kicked long to the top of the goal square to see the ball front and centre snapped by Swindon for goal and the game was over and it was now party time. The next goal of the game also went to Mont when Watson kicked to Byron who marked strongly and kicked long to give an unattended Attard the easiest chest mark 25 meters from goal directly in front.
North needed to play for pride and stop the slaughter. From the centre bounce North got the clearance and found the go to man Harvey who didn’t let them down and one goal had been pegged back. But that was the end of the resistance and at the three quarter time break the margin had ballooned to fifty one points.
Mont 14 11 95 North 6 8 44
The last quarter was always going to be a non event, but to the credit of North they came out with pride to goal within the opening thirty seconds. Within six minutes they had a second goal and the North crowd came to life. The crowd was silenced once more when Pavitt ran around the boundary and found Hayes on the lead. Hayes goaled and all the Monty faithful could start thinking of next week’s grand final.
North again scored a goal but it was too little too late. A clever pass by Watson to Reinke gave Matt a set shot 30 meters out from goal. Reinke goaled and North started to lose the plot. A free kick was awarded to Mont in the centre before the ball was even returned from the goal. A minute later a yellow card was given for something behind the play in the Mont goal square and Gutterson lined up and kicked the goal. Then all hell broke loose as again a hit behind the play resulted in Stanley having stitches above his eye and a huge bite mark on his shoulder. For Mont it was hard as they knew it wasn’t worth fighting back and missing a grand final, but at the same time they couldn’t let North have free hits whenever they pleased. The game was degrading quickly and the umpires took control restoring the game to something that looked like football, but the damage was done. The NFL blew the siren early after only sixteen minutes of actual play, which in itself is controversial, but warmly thanked by Montmorency as there was nothing left in the game for us to win, we could only lose players from this point on.
Final Score
Mont 17 13 115 North 9 11 65
Best on ground in my opinion only: 3 Jarrod McGough, 2 Jonathon Byron, 1 Matt Neill
Now it's time to get the mind set right to take on Heidelberg in next weeks grand final....GO MONT!!!
Last Modified on 10/09/2008 21:21