St Joseph’s knocks off South Barwon in tight Anzac Day clash as Oscar Morrison kicks four goals

On a difficult day for key forwards, Morrison’s overhead marking stood out as the Geelong Falcons kicked four goals. in his side’s 11-point win.

The most important moment came in the final quarter with a a crucial leaping grab and goal giving the Joeys breathing space.

“It was a really clutch goal, fantastic finish from Oscar. He had a great day, four goals in these conditions is just great reward for effort,” St Joseph’s assistant Paul Hood said.

“He continued to present, work hard up and down the ground and have some spells as our back-up[ ruck as well.”

The Joeys led by just two points at three-quarter-time after Chris Hughes and Todd White kicked goals in red time, but lively forward Hunter Lewis (three goals) kicked two majors in the final term to put the Joeys 18-points ahead.

A clever crumb and snap from Jonty Broughton gave the Swans some hope but the Joeys managed to hold on in their preliminary final rematch.

A wasteful South Barwon started the game with nine straight behinds and trailed by 20 points nearing halftime until back-to-back goals from spearhead Fraser Fort – one of those a cracker that bounced through from beyond the arc – cut the margin to eight points.

While it was a gallant fightback from the Swans, they were left to rue missed opportunities as they kicked 6.15 to the Joeys’ 9.8.

Joeys captain Alex Hickey led from the front in defence and Hood also lauded the work of Lewis up forward.

“Alex Hickey was terrific today the captain, behind the ball led from the front. He mopped up everything and distributed the ball out of defence really smart,” Hood said.

“Hunter Lewis with his three goals up forward, it was a tough day to find space but he managed be someone whose contribution was a big part of the difference in the end.”

The result St Joseph’s 3-0 for the season, but the Joys aren’t getting carried away despite knocking off 2024 grand finalists Leopold and South Barwon in successive weeks.

“It really is just trying to beat every team we come up against, but I think last week against Leopold we were fortunate we’d already had a game before they had played their first, so that probably plays into our hands,” Hood said.

“South had the bye as well, so it is great to be winning, but I don’t think there is really anything that we will get too carried away with this early in the year, there is a lot of water to go under the bridge.

“But certainly we are happy with the win today at McDonald Reserve. And South are a team that have amazing players and stretch all over the ground. So to keep most of their good players under wraps for enough of the day to get over the line is something we are happy with.”

But the Joeys’ win came at a cost, with in-form forward Jack Mullen coming from the ground in pain after suffering a hamstring injury.

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Hood said Mullen will be sent for scans in what he described as a “disappointing” blow.

“It is probably too early to tell exactly how bad except Jack was in a fair bit of pain, frustrated because he was playing well at the time. Kicked an early goal for us and his season has started off tremendously,” Hood said.

“So it is disappointing for him and we’ve got our fingers crossed that it’s not a really big hamstring strain, but it looked like he was in a fair bit of pain so we will have all the appropriate scans and give him the best rehab we can when he’s ready to go.

Originally published as St Joseph’s knocks off South Barwon in tight Anzac Day clash as Oscar Morrison kicks four goals