Haintz goal the sealer

IT was the moment that gave Peter Haintz goosebumps.

With the grand final on a knife’s edge, and St Joseph’s holding a slender four-point lead deep in the final quarter, Haintz’s son Brant dashed forward and booted a scintillating running goal.

The Joeys crowd erupted. They were home.

“The hair on the back of my neck was standing,” Peter, also Joeys’ hardworking football director, said post-match, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Brant.

“I’m going to tear up. He was magnificent. He had a fantastic year.”

With St Joseph’s staring down the barrel of defeat at the seven-minute mark of the final term, trailing by 14 points, Haintz and co lifted.

Jackson Davis nailed his third goal to reduce the lead to eight points and Haintz stepped it up a gear.

His first goal at the 11-minute mark got Joeys rolling, and when Lucas Anderson goaled moments later, they were in front.

Haintz rolled forward again at the 22-minute mark, steering through his second to give St Joseph’s a 10-point buffer and an unassailable lead.

“It felt pretty bloody good,” Brant said of the sealer.

“It gave us a good lead and I was pretty confident that we had it in the bag then.”

Despite the fact there was still plenty of time left on the clock, Peter felt his side had the match in its keeping.

“There were a couple of times where we kicked crucial goals but that (Brant’s second) galvanised the players,” he said.

“It gave them belief that we could finish the game off, definitely. It put us 10 points up and it was magnificent.”

With a beaming smile Peter added, “This is excellent, I couldn’t be more proud”.

“It was a fantastic effort, especially after we lost four of the last six home-and-away games. To fight our way back and produce the football that we did, it’s fantastic.”

Clawing their way back from a precarious position at 22 points adrift in the second quarter, Brant conceded he doubted — albeit only for a fleeting moment — his side’s ability to pinch the premiership from St Mary’s grasp.

“At some stages, maybe (there was doubt), but I had the belief that if we played as a team and if everyone played their role that we had the team that could win it,” Brant said.

“And we did. We’re mentally strong and we knew we can do it. Even when people doubt us we know we can still get up and win.”

Amid the euphoria of a