Broadview exact revenge over Scotch Old Collegians from their qualifying final defeat. But now they move onto their biggest challenge of trying to beat Happy Valley in the grand final
By Gabrielle Torpey
This week, as spring vastly makes our days warmer and our weekends shorter, we get to see the best of the best play against each other. Although it’s a relaxing time for the teams that no longer play, it’s a fun and social time. Teams that are still in the run are preparing and training double time, and perhaps mentally preparing themselves for the outcome of each week’s game. So they meet again, Broadview and Scotch OC, the Tigers and the Lionesses. It was only two weeks ago that these two teams faced each other in what we expected to be a slaughtering by Broadview, after Round 1 this season where Broadview scored 49 points to Scotch OC’s 12. But a lot changes in a short amount of time. In the qualifying finals Scotch OC thrashed Broadview with 35 points to the Tiger’s 15. Certainly, this week we were not sure what would happen. Scotch OC’s scores had been improving and appeared better than Broadview’s games, however Broadview remained on the top with a couple of really good games under their claws. I thought for certain that this game would be intense, hard and aggressive. It seems as though; it might have been very one sided. I did predict that Broadview might win and carry on to face Happy Valley Vikings in the finals but I certainly didn’t expect it to be so easy for them. In the first quarter we saw scores that we expected to see, both low but almost equal. But by the end of the second quarter Broadview pushed through, just a little bit, but enough to rattle Scotch OC’s confidence. Scotch OC scored one more point, while the ball spent a long time in Broadview’s goal side, allowing them to kick two goals and one more point. At this stage Scotch OC are not overly stressed, they’ve beaten Broadview before and two goals is easy to steal away if they just got the ball down to their side and kept it there. But Broadview’s attackers were fast, and their defence tougher and smarter than Scotch OC’s. By third quarter, Broadview kicked four goals and one more point, this time it was going to be hard for Scotch OC to catch up. But Scotch OC tried and we saw a short turn around with the ball being played longer in Scotch OC’s goal side. They managed to kick two goals and two more points. Although a good comeback, it wasn’t enough. By the end of fourth quarter Broadview had kicked two more goals and one more point. Scotch OC never stopped trying and managed to score one more goal and point. I believe Broadview are ecstatic to be going ahead into finals, and even more so to beat Scotch OC after loosing to them not so long ago. Between the two of them, I think that they might have had equal chances in defeated Happy Valley in the finals but sometimes teams are designed against each other; too strong a defence against too short of an attack. Scotch OC’s goal kickers were A Franklin, H Tavian and A Kaesler. Tavian kicked nine goals this season and Franklin not far behind with seven. Kaesler kicked four gaols this season but has an impressive nine marks under her belt. The best on nominations were awarded to S Davies, A Davies, K Harris, K Lea and G Lang. A Davies has kicked 10 goals this season being 7th on the ladder of leading goalies. Lang has received nine nominations for best on, as has S Davies and Lea. Scotch OC are certainly a team with incredibly talented players and their club and coaches would no doubt be proud of the team they have created. Broadview’s goalkickers were R Freeman, C Jonson and H. Howe each kicking two goals, and S Farrugia and E Metcalfe with one each. Jonson and Howe are way up on the ladder of leading goal kickers. Jonson has kicked an impressive 18 goals this season with Howe not far behind on 16. Freeman only has three goals under her belt which means she kicked two of them this game, which is an impressive feat this far into the season. The best on players were E Monaghan, R Freeman, H Howe, C Short and G Bentley. Its obvious why Freeman and Howe got nominations with impressive self-accomplishments pushing through in such a tough game. A few familiar and unfamiliar names on that list which just proves that sometimes diamonds are made under pressure. I am super keen to see Broadview take on Happy Valley in the finals. They are definitely everyone’s favourite teams but the Tigers are going to have to keep their eye out for leading goal kicker J Hooper who has kicked 31 goals this season. That doesn’t even come close to some of the other team’s overall goals. There’s going to be seven grand finals being played on Simonds Park (St Marys) this week so hopefully someone blesses the ground before the big games. Playing on unfamiliar turf can rattle some teams but hopefully we see some impressive play and large scores to keep the crowd going. I don’t want to say who I think will win, and it might be obvious to some who have watched throughout the season, but I am a strong believer in expecting the unexpected. So, I can’t say anything. I don’t want to jinx it. I guess that just means I will see you all on the weekend one last time. The season is ending on perfect timing. Already I am sunburnt and applying sunscreen before I head out. My house mate is already refusing to leave the house when it hits over 26 degrees. Instead of rugs we might have to start packing sunglasses and hats to each game. Stay hydrated and stay safe.
