Bloods hold on in Division 3 thriller

Tash Gunawardana

After finishing fourth last year and losing in the first week of the 2018 finals to Westbourne Grammarians, Aquinas were on a mission in the 2019 Division 3 finals series, they conquered their mission to be crowned the Division 3 Premiers after downing the Manningham Cobras by two points.

REVIEW

From the opening bounce, the Division 3 Grand Final was played at a high intensity with stoppages and strong hard tackling.

The Cobras only took two minutes of the decider to open the scoring via Adam Kinniburgh. Adam Baltruweit had plenty of the ball early in the first quarter and intercepted well off the Bloods attack from middle to half back. Cobras broke away with a two-goal lead towards the end of the opening quarter and Matthew Allwood booted through a late goal for the Bloods to narrow the gap to seven points. For the Bloods, Joshua Robertson popped up with a late goal to level the scores. Ayden Sukkel scored the last goal of the opening term off one step to give the Cobras a one goal lead at quarter time.

A scrappy start to the second with both team’s pressure unrelentless. The Cobras’ Robert Saunders kicked the opening goal to jump to a 13-point lead. For the Bloods, Anthony Mattioli nailed through a crucial goal to get within seven points of the Cobras. Baltruweit continued to stand up well across half back for the Cobras. With four points in favour of the Cobras, both teams’ defences stood up well stopping any attack in its tracks. Late in the quarter, quick ball movement from half back courtesy of Cobras’ Jason Stephens set up Raso who slotted through a nice goal and his first to give Cobras a 10-point buffer at the main break.

Momentum swayed in favour of Bloods in the second half with five goals to two. Cobras pressed in the third term with countless inside 50 entries but only a goal and nine behinds to show from it. Raso was influential for the Cobras inside 50, setting up teammate Sukkel who booted through the Cobras only goal to increase his sides lead to 19-points. Bloods’ Ashley Naulty kicked his first to help his side get within 13 points. It was an 11-point lead midway through the third term in favour of the Cobras. Nice fast hands deep in attack from the Bloods resulted in an impressive dribbling goal from Michael Cardamone narrowing the margin to seven points with five minutes left in third. Again, quick ball movement from the Bloods resulted in a goal with three-and-a-half-minutes left via Billy O’Loughlin. Only two points separated the two sides and about a minute left in the third quarter and a kick after the siren from Raso who sprayed it right, the Cobras went into the final break up by three points.

With the match up for grabs, both sides showed desperation with strong tackles to start the final quarter of the 2019 Division 3 season. Naulty began the Bloods final term off on the right path converting his second and giving his side a three-point lead.

The contest was hot in tight with both teams giving it their all. In a back and forth last term, the Cobras wrestled back the lead with a goal from the boot off Raso who registered his second. Raso’s goal was the only goal the Cobras scored due to the incredible defensive efforts of the Bloods. Cardamone at the 21st minute mark slotted through the Bloods second goal of the quarter and they held a two-point advantage. With ten minutes left, neither team could score with stoppages galore. The Cobras peppered away at the scoreboard struggling to gain back the lead. They would rue their missed opportunities especially in having a shot at goal with less than 30 seconds left to win but fell agonisingly short. The Bloods held onto secure the 2019 Division 3 premiership.

Nick Zappala battled hard in the midfield for the Cobras, while Anthony Raso (2) and Ayden Sukkel (2) combined for four goals. For the Bloods, Lachlan Barnes was awarded the best on ground medal in the Grand Final and Cardamone impressed with two majors.

Overall, the Division 3 season finished off in style with the two top teams fighting till the final siren and the Bloods despite finishing second in the home and away season were the team of the finals toppling the Cobras when it counted.