Skipper sparks Joeys to victory for the ages
ST JOSEPH’S may have won three premierships in the past four years to cement its place in GFL immortality, but perhaps its 2018 triumph was its finest hour.
For Joeys, the dominance of past seasons was not as assured in the regular season.
They were well beaten by their grand final opponent in the qualifying final, and were even staring down the barrel of defeat as late as the third quarter in Saturday’s grand final when trailing by 22 points after coming in rank outsiders.
But they know how to perform on the big stage.
When Riley Ferguson kicked his second goal at the 19-minute mark of the opening term, St Joseph’s had burst out of the blocks to create a 17-point buffer.
St Mary’s responded to boot the last three goals to take in a surprise one-point lead to quarter time, including two brilliant soccer goals from the impressive Jarryd Garner and Doug Bond right on the siren.
St Mary’s — the hot favourite coming into the match — kept St Joseph’s goalless in the second term and added majors thanks to Harry Benson and the instrumental Sam Dobson, who would eventually boot a game-high five goals.
When young gun Paddy Dowling opened the third term with a St Mary’s goal, the margin was 22 points.
However St Joseph’s captain Alex Hickey stood up when needed and spurred a breathtaking period of play following his first goal.
Cam Tudor then soccered the ball through from the goal line less than a minute later, and when Jackson Davis goaled the margin was back to two points in nearly as many minutes.
Hickey continued his inspiring performance by booting another goal soon after to give St Joseph’s the lead for the first time since Ferguson’s opening term major.
Dobson, visibly hampered by a right calf injury suffered in the second quarter, kicked two of the next three goals, including a mark running back with the flight and a checkside goal from in front of the Gary Ablett Terrace.
St Joseph’s, though, would not be denied, even after Dobson kicked his fifth to open the final term and extend the margin to 14 points.
With league-leading goalkicker Aiden Grace being blanketed by Dan Measures, St Mary’s was suddenly stopped in its tracks by a rampant Joeys outfit.
Clutch goals to Davis and Brant Haintz on the run brought the margin back to two points, and when Lucas Anderson duly converted, Joeys claimed a lead deep into the final term that they would not relinquish.
It was left to Haintz again to seize the momentum — and the match — with another calm finish to push the margin to 10 points, and the final margin of nine points was fitting for one of the greatest GFL grand finals in recent memory.