South Barwon misses finals as St Mary’s knocks off Newtown & Chilwell but drops to fourth

The Swans thumped St Albans by a whopping 120 points in their 1.10pm start and were left to cross their fingers and hope for Newtown & Chilwell to knock off St Mary’s or Leopold to defeat Bell Park.

But a second-quarter surge from St Mary’s, where it piled on eight goals to one, saw the Saints knock Newtown Chilwell off top spot, and Bell Park kept Leopold at arm’s length to finish the season with a 21-point win.

It means both 2024 grand finalist will not feature in September, with South Barwon finishing the season with a commanding percentage of 195.59 and 50 points.

However, the Saints’ eye-catching 39-point win over the Eagles — where Sam Bourke dominated with seven goals, five of those in the first half — wasn’t enough to secure a top-three spot.

Colac managed to jump from fourth to third with a 63-point win over Grovedale, finishing with a percentage of 196.89 – just 1.26 more than the Saints’ 195.63.

Newtown & Chilwell, leapfrogged by St Joseph’s, will take on Colac in a qualifying final clash next week, while St Mary’s will come up against the Dragons in an elimination final next Sunday.

St Joseph’s secured its second-consecutive minor premiership with a 69-point triumph over Geelong West in outgoing coach Greg Mellor’s final game leading the Giants.

If Grovedale had managed just seven more points or St Mary’s had conceded two less goals, the Saints would have finished third, highlighting the slim margins in the GFNL top-five.

Grovedale had the breeze in the last quarter but kicked six-straight behinds to Colac’s 1.3, with Grovedale’s inaccuracy helping hand the other GFNL Tigers a double chance.

Newtown & Chilwell also roared back into the contest agaisnt St Mary’s with six goals to two in the third term.

Adding to the drama, Colac forward Jonathan Simpkin ran into an open goal only for the siren to blow just before he kicked it through.

“Coaches all the time talk about all the small margins in the game and all the little things that you need to do and I suppose, ultimately, that’s what it’s come down to at the end of the end of the year,” Colac co-coach Jason Armistead said.

“It was just in the lap of the gods, the footy gods a little bit for us,”

“We didn’t really go full defensive because from the scores that were getting told to me, it seemed like St. Mary’s were attacking pretty strongly as well, their scoreboard kept ticking over.

“We couldn’t afford to against Grovey as well because they were playing some pretty good footy.

“So I know the scoreboard may not have suggested that at the end, but we didn’t really have our own way much all day.”

Colac stars Ben McCarthy and Adam Garner were both yellow carded in an action-packed third quarter where a Grovedale player was also sent off.

It is understood both incidents were initially graded as low impact, with Garner’s yellow card for tripping a Grovedale player.

Meanwhile, St Mary’s would have dropped outside the top-five if they’d lost to the Eagles, and co-coach Luke Rayner said getting the four points was his side’s sole focus.

“We pretty much knew straight away (that we were fourth) because I think (Colac) were slightly ahead of us time-wise, but it is what it is,” Rayner said.

“If anything (the high stakes) probably just sharpened our focus in the lead up to it.

“Our main priority was to win our game of footy, we weren’t too preoccupied with whether we finished third, fourth or fifth, we were obviously really preoccupied with winning the game of footy and making sure that we get into the finals.

“We feel like this year’s probably as tight as it’s ever been and I think the top five are really, really evenly matched and anyone with the best footy on the day could probably beat the other team.

“It’s a great lead-in to play that way against a quality opponent and a team that was sitting on top of the ladder at the time, obviously really good belief.

“Really it’s the ideal preparation going into an elimination final and it’s a matter of trying to step up to the plate and try to repeat the dose.”

Rayner lauded the “unbelievable” performance of Sam Bourke, who capped his first full season as a forward with a matchwinning outing.

“He’s just going to continue to improve and keep developing in that area,” Rayner said. “The good thing about Sam is you just know what you’re going to get week in, week out with him.”

Lara finished its difficult season with something to smile about, notching its first win of the season over North Shore by 15 points.

The elusive triumph saw the Cats jump into 11th position ahead of the Seagulls.

Originally published as South Barwon misses finals as St Mary’s knocks off Newtown & Chilwell but drops to fourth