Shocker for the Seagulls
Warriors display winning intensity
THEY say bad kicking is bad football.
And the senior players at Barwon Heads will be kicking themselves today.
At crucial times on the biggest stage, the Seagulls’ skills let them down. Badly.
It wasn’t the inexperienced players who felt the heat of grand final day either.
Mitch Herbison, Mitch Phelps, Damian Horbury and Luke Michell — the polished performers who had driven the standards all season — were off-target when it mattered. The 5.16 scoreline, the Seagulls’ worst of the season, said it all.
With a rampant Modewarre up and about early, Barwon Heads had opportunities to steady. Herbison, Horbury and Phelps had gettable chances in the first term but were wayward.
While the Seagulls wasted chances, Troy Anderson made the most of his. Anderson displayed nerves of steel, drilling two set shots from 45m to give the Warriors momentum heading into the first break.
It all came with the Warriors one down on the bench after Daniel Sturzaker was reported and yellow-carded for kicking.
The intensity went up a notch in the second quarter.
Warriors’ co-coach Josh Finch moved on ball and copped plenty of attention from tagger Ned Auslebrook, while former South Barwon teammates Mitch Herbison and Mitch Fisher put friendships aside after a disagreement.
Jason Kerby left Seamus Orr on his haunches with what looked to be a strike to the stomach on the crowdside wing before tempers flared at the 19minute mark deep inside Barwon Heads’ forward-50.
With Herbison making the most of his third shot at goal, closing the margin to three points, a fight erupted.
Phelps was dumped on the ground and subsequently received a free kick, providing the Seagulls with a controversial double goal and giving them the lead.
Minutes later, Kerby and Finch had a little dust-up, leading to another fracas with Morgan Fenton and Auslebrook.
Adding to the mess, Mark Corrigan hobbled from the field with a leg injury.
Jesse Douglas was able to restore order moments later, kicking his first goal of the match to give the Warriors back the lead at halftime.
With the match in the balance, mercurial forward Luke Forbes stepped up to the plate in the third term.
Forbes’ first goal gave Modewarre a 10-point buffer and
planted the challenge firmly before Barwon Heads.
The Seagulls lifted and pressed forward in a sign that the momentum would swing, but they would again lament poor kicking.
Luke Michell had two opportunities to bring Barwon Heads within striking distance, but he failed to convert.
Michell hit the post at the 20-minute mark, only for the Warriors to take the ball the length of the field and record a goal through Jack O’Hanlon.
Fisher would later chime in with the first of his three goals, breaking the back of Barwon Heads.
By the sixth minute mark of the final term, when Bill Hansen booted his second goal, the margin was 27 points and the first nail in the coffin. Moments later, the dangerous Forbes slotted his second. The procession of goals continued through Josh McDonald at the 14-minute mark before Fisher put the icing on the cake with successive goals at the 18 and 24-minute marks. The Warriors were simply brilliant in the final term, looming large every time they went forward.
With three goals under his belt, Fisher and the Warriors were celebrating in the shadows of time-on in the final term. The eventual margin was 47 points, a 110-point turn around from the second semifinal.