Crocs storm home to victory
KATHERINE South turned the form guide upside down last night when they beat warm favourites Katherine Camels by 35 points in the Big Rivers Football League Grand Final.
The Crocodiles kicked eight goals to two in a frantic second half to win 13.4 (82) to 6.11 (47) in front of a big crowd at the Katherine Showgrounds.
Winning coach Mal Fox said his players had gone into the grand final “pretty confident’’ after a hard hitout in the preliminary final.
“But all credit to them (Camels), they’re a bloody good footy side and a tremendous club and we’ve got to acknowledge them for a great season,” he said.
The first half produced two contrasting quarters after a blazing start from Souths looked like turning the premiership decider into a one-horse race.
Big ruckman Ryan Smith’s hard work around the ground, Jeffrey McDonald’s goal sense and Will Farrer’s presence in the goal square shot the Crocodiles to a big lead at quarter time.
But the Camels did not finish on top of the minor rounds for nothing, booting 3.5 to nothing to close to within four points at halftime.
They also kept Souths scoreless, keeping Farrer away from the football by not allowing the Souths midfield to get the ball into their forward line.
Big-game players Cameron Arnold and Josh Carlin kicked goals in the second term and like Souths in the first quarter, should have kicked at least three others.
More bad kicking for goal in the third quarter cost the Camels dearly as they wasted many precise moves out of the middle with some poor finishing.
That was when the McDonald-Farrer show took centre stage, Farrer booting three goals in the last quarter through a series of skyscraping marks and McDonald playing the role of crumber in kicking another two.
Souths skipper Michael Joshua, carried off in the major semi-final with what looked like a serious injury, kicked the first goal of the quarter under tremendous pressure following a free kick 30m out from the goal line.
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