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Qualifying Final v Eagles 2007
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REVENGE IS SWEET!
Best: Lonie, Hart, Bamford, Howard, O’Hara, Allan, Wright In an eerie similarity to the week before, the Roosters yesterday again rallied superbly from behind in inflicting a 7 point win – this time against the reigning premier who knocked us out of the major round last year by the same margin. Whilst we started the game promisingly enough, with a team lifting goal to Nick Gill within the first minute and the first two goals of the contest, it was our second quarter and the opening stoushes of the third quarter which again saw us fall alarmingly behind on the scoreboard. Interestingly, whilst we slotted the first two goals of the game, the Eagles then rattled seven of the next eight, before our barnstorming finish which culminated in our boys registering seven unanswered goals prior to the Eagles conjuring the last goal of the contest in ‘junk’ time. Thus, for the second week in a row, the North faithful had their collective hearts in the mouth – but one thing is for certain, this class of 2007 has a steely resolve and self-belief that just about anything is surmountable. The evergreen Scott Bamford, who like a good wine just gets better with age, noted: “It’s something (comebacks) we don’t really want to make a habit of, and it seems the last two weeks it’s taken us to get a fair way behind before we’ve got our game going. The good thing is that when we do get our game going, no one can go with us. It gives us a lot of confidence that if we are in that position we can still win”. Instrumental in setting up our fourth goal deep into the third stanza (which was our first goal since the same stage of the first term), it was the experienced heads of the likes of Bamford, Ben Hart and Chris Ladhams that blasted the Roosters back into the contest. “We got 3 in a row, and you could just feel the shift in momentum. They just couldn’t go with us in the end, our run in the second half was good”, Bamford said. If Bamford’s heroics along the wing had ignited the spark for the Roosters in the third term, then Ben Hart’s classic snap over his shoulder two minutes later from 40 metres out surely applied the blowtorch and got the North faithful a-rocking!! That signalled the beginning of the end for the Eagles – as our boys threw caution to the wind and stamped their unrelenting authority on the contest. The final nail in the coffin for the Eagles was two amazing goals on the run from the stylish left foot ‘super-boot’ of Nathan Lonie – both resulting from the ‘handball happy’ Brett O’Hara. “He’s (Lonie) one of the best finishers going around, and I think ‘Budgie’ knows he should dish it of!”, noted Ben Hart, whose calmness in a crisis was yet again instrumental for the Roosters. “Those goals of his in the last term were fantastic”, Hart said. Coach Andrew Jarman agreed. “Nathan’s a quality bloke, and he fits our style of footy. O’Hara was very disciplined to give it off…he knew that if he didn’t that I’d shoot him”, chuckled an elated Jarman. “Losing Damon White Friday night really dropped the group a bit because he’s been great and the boys felt for him. So there was a bit of an incentive there for him with his year probably over”, Jarman said. “There is a real belief, and I saw it in my Ressies yesterday (Saturday). They expect to win and that is hard to coach I reckon”, noted Jarman. However, Jarman’s whiteboard manoeuvres late in the game yet again provided a catalyst for the result, most notably the shifting of Ben Hart onto the wing. “At least (the supporters) won’t die wondering, and that’s the type of coach I am trying to develop, I’m a risk taker, and the boys are backing me in with it. Don’t forget, they have to do it. It’s all right for me to throw some names around on a whiteboard, but they have to do it”. And do it they did! The spoils of victory means we have a tantalising opportunity to inflict some major round carnage on the northern infidels from Elizabeth – and in the process earn direct passage to the Grand Final and finally put an end to the now boring Eagles/Central recent domination of the grand final stage. Victory next week would also see club stalwart Bamford celebrating his 200th club game on the biggest stage a week later. “We beat Centrals last time and we will go in with a lot of confidence as we’ve got our tails up. They’ll have to be the ones worried about us I think”, Bamford said. “It would be a nice way to finish the year (playing 200th in grand final), but it’s not really about that. It’s about winning the grand final – that’s all I am worried about”. It’s time!! Until next week…
Photos of the game can be viewed here: Pics of North v Eagles Qualifying Final 2007 |