Bell Post Hill riding wave of momentum from fifth to preliminary final

The Eagles controlled Saturday’s preliminary final against Bell Post Hill from start to finish to close out a 13.9 (87) to 77 (49) result at St Albans Reserve.

“It was a good feeling, obviously we enjoy the win, but we believe we deserve to be playing next week,” Eagles playing coach Ned Aulsebrook said.

“We did a job today, it was a businesslike win by the boys, it was great.”

A six-goal haul to Eagle Zac Smith was the difference on the scoreboard, the forward rediscovering his regular season form which saw him kick 53 goals.

“He kicked 0.4 last week and he owned that last week... he dominated today, he was great,” Aulsebrook said of Smith.

A strong focus at training on ball movement going inside 50 followed the Eagles’ losing qualifying final to North Geelong, where Aulsebrook declared “they butchered the ball”,

And it paid off, the Eagles getting a better return against the Panthers with eight different goalkickers.

“We were a bit more braver with our ball-movement which we had to be,” Aulsebrook said.

“I think we looked really good ahead of the footy and we probably just a lot cleaner with our ball use.

“We took a lot of care with our entries and weren’t afraid to kick to grass out the front of our forwards - it worked really well.”

Samuel Lowe, in his 100th game, was best afield for East Geelong, though came away sporting a black eye from a knock to the face, while Galen Munari impressed in a defensive role.

“He’s (Lowe) the ultimate teammate, a couple big brave moments he puts his body on the line and always just in the right spots,” Aulsebrook said.

“And Galen … he got a lot of the footy himself.”

Dylan Godwin was the Panthers’ best, while Lachlan Wilson kicked three.

The Eagles now face North Geelong in Saturday’s senior grand final, the Magpies aiming to end a 10-year premiership drought of their own.

And with the Pies holding the wood over the Eagles this year, 3-0 head-to-head, Aulsebrook said while his team would go into the clash underdogs, it’s a tag the club is happy to take.

“We have a lot of belief internally our best footy gets the job done,” he said.

Preview: Turning point in Panthers’ flag pursuit

It was the most controversial result of the season, but Bell Post Hill captain Jack Yates believes his team’s round 14 reversed win against Belmont Lions was a turning point irrespective of whether it had been overturned or not.

A scoring error saw the Lions winners on the day, before the league’s committee members overruled the result based on vision and Premier Data statistics.

“It was just a really well fought-out game against one of the best teams in the comp, that’s when the belief really started being there for the group,” Yates said of that July contest.

“ And I don’t think we’ve looked back since really.”

The win kept the Panthers in the top 5 at the time before they locked away finals before round 18, despite dropping that last round to Corio as they looked to get rest into some older names heading into September.

Those premiership veterans, the likes of Dylan Witney, Caleb Bacely and Nick Costello among them, have been crucial to the club’s return to the top 5 after departing to Great Western for the 2024 season, as the Panthers went from preliminary finalists to ninth on the ladder.

But equally as vital been the senior exposure that one-year exodus provided for younger guys coming through.

“They’re still getting a go this year as well,” Yates said of his team’s younger crop.

“But having some of the wise heads back, like Cubby (Baceley) basically just takes people under his wing, Dyl Witney, Timmy (Barton) … Beau Mac (McNamara), Cozzy (Costello), I don’t know how they still do it at their age.

“They keep the group young.”

Add in some handy recruiting of of Felix Jones and Andrew Casey into their best 22, and the Panthers have not only returned to finals, but knocked off higher-ranked Anakie and Belmont in the first two weeks of finals to set up a preliminary final against East Geelong at St Albans Reserve on Saturday.

It’s a wave of momentum the Panthers and coach Ash Witney hope can propel them from fifth to their first flag since 2017.

“Just starting to click a little bit, more of our defensive side of the game and hunt around the footy, hunt on the opposition, that’s what’s probably gone to another level this finals series,” Witney said.

“We knew it was there, but I think the whole cutthroat elimination final stuff probably suits us best, there is no what-ifs, it’s just, we’ve got to win.”

But the coach and club won’t get ahead of themselves when it comes to face the minor premiers, who lost their qualifying final to North Geelong last week and are 0-3 in finals the past two seasons.

“I haven’t been quiet saying it, they’ve (East) been the best side we’ve played all year,” Witney said.

“We’re comfortable if we can get the game looking like a Bell Post Hill game, then we can get on top of them, and obviously they want to play a certain way too.

“They’re a very good side, very well drilled, coached, very good players.

“We’re going to be up against it, but I’m confident we can get the job done.”

Barton, who underwent surgery last week on a finger injury sustained in the Panthers’ elimination final win, will return to face the Eagles.

Grand final or bust? Eagles plan to overcome finals pressure cooker

East Geelong coach Ned Aulsebrook says the Eagles aren’t listening to outside noise when it comes to the club’s lacklustre finals record.

The GDFNL minor premiers will play off in a preliminary final against Bell Post Hill on Saturday, with the pressure on to avoid a third straight-set finals exit in four seasons.

The Richmond Crescent-based club is 1-6 in finals in a post-Covid-19 era, with Aulsebrook’s record in charge 0-3 since arriving from Barwon Heads at the end of 2023 – their latest a three-goal defeat to grand final-bound North Geelong last weekend.

It’s a stark contrast to the Eagles’ home-and-away dominance, 59-13 since the start of 2022 to secure three minor premierships, and a fourth-place finish in 2023 – the latter the year they won a four-point elimination final thriller.

“I’m not saying this disrespectfully … but we don’t really care about what anyone else says, which is good,” Aulsebrook said.

“We’ve spoken about the fact that we didn’t perform in the finals last year.

“But if you look at those games in isolation, Thomson won the flag. They were a rampaging Thomson side, and we nearly beat him.

“And it was a hurricane against Belmont.

“You look at those games in isolation, potentially not as big of a deal.

“North Geelong are the best side of the comp this year, they’ve beaten us three times.
“We’ve got a big challenge this week against Bell Post Hill, that’s what we isolate, we look at that in isolation.”

Reflecting on last week’s second semi-final loss to the Magpies, Aulsebrook felt ball-use going inside 50 cost his team a place in a grand final, with the Pies’ 4.1 to 1.1 final quarter the simple difference on the scoreboard.

“We just butchered the footy going forward,” he said.

“ We’ve watched the first half of that game, we were well on top, just didn’t make the most of our opportunities.

“We’ll try and fix that this weekend.”

The Eagles are expected to make one change, forward Ben Mulvahil to come into the side after missing three games, while Ben Crombie is likely to spend more time in the midfield in what is his fourth game back from a 2.5 month ankle injury.

Meanwhile, Aulsebrook said the likes of big-name off-season recruits Andrew Steele and Jeremy Ollis had made strong impressions in their first season at the club, the pair also combining for three of the Eagles’ seven goals against the Pies.

“Steeley’s 32 years old and he played his first final on the weekend … you look at these different stories that guys bring to the club and it’s really exciting for a guy like that to be able to show his wares, he’d never played a senior game in September,” Aulsebrook said.

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“He’ll be better for the run this week.”

“And (Jeremy’s) really built into the year, found his sort of role, he doesn’t have to get 30 touches to impact a game.

“He’s been awesome.”

Originally published as Bell Post Hill riding wave of momentum from fifth to preliminary final