Williams’ heroics, ‘hand of God’ put De La into grand final

“Just disbelief, really. I didn’t think we were really going to get there.”

So says an exhausted Jacob Williams, mere minutes after kicking his second final-quarter goal of the Premier B preliminary final, a goal that put De La Salle two points ahead of Old Trinity and ultimately, with the help of Luke Healy’s ‘hand of God’ on the last line, put the club into a Grand Final and VAFA top flight in 2025.

Prior to the final quarter, Williams had a single goal to his name for 2024, coming in Round 17 against St Bedes/Mentone Tigers.

But in his 146th game of senior footy for the club, Williams converted two shots on goal in a final quarter that will long be remembered and recalled down at the Dairy Bell, De La Salle winning its way into its first William Buck Premier season since 2019, 9.12 (66) to 7.17 (59).

“We had the belief that we were going to do it,” Williams said in the rooms amongst a throng of giddy players, supporters and coaching staff.

“De La is an A-Grade club, that’s what we believe. We feel like we deserve to be back up there.”

On a sunny day at Trevor Barker Beach Oval, the 2:30pm start time was pushed back due to a horrific broken leg suffered by De La reserves player Hamish Curtis in a Preliminary Final against Old Ivanhoe, which was eventually called off in the third quarter, a win awarded to De La Salle which at that point lead by 58 points.

Curtis left the ground in an ambulance over an hour after the incident in which he suffered the injury – we wish him a full and speedy recovery.

A favourable wind blew strongly to the social club end of the ground for the entirety of the match, and when De La superstar Christian Algeri, kicking with the wind in the first term unleashed a mighty torpedo punt from just about centre wing that bounced through for the first goal of the game, it appeared there would be a clear discrepancy between the two ends of the ground.

That wasn’t to be the case though, with a tight, contested battle forming at the feet of rucks Harry Thompson and Patrick Bohan, both squads defending manfully – a troop led by Luke Healy, Tom Deane-Johns and Sean Fisher bailing out De La while Ed Weatherson, Sam Mason and Lachie Mulcahy set up strongly behind the footy for the Ts.

But it was De La’s Ryan O’Meara that was all but impassable in the second quarter, dragging down six intercept marks in the quarter alone as the Ts piled on the pressure with the advantage of the wind.

Crucially, De La looked potent enough without the advantage of the gusting breeze, even with Ts key forward pair Dom Payman and Hugh Beasley threatening mightily. Aside from a goal from Ts midfielder Oliver Scott pitched in the goal square and somehow skipped untouched past a goal-line mob, De La Salle coach Nick Hyland could go into half time happy with his team’s efforts – and with a ten-point lead.

Conversely, for Ts Donald McDonald, it was an opportunity missed, that left work to be done after the long break.

“The ten point margin at half time was a bit of a killer for us. In that first half, I thought that they played really well into the wind – their defenders used the ball really well,” he said, lamenting his team’s “rushed” approach.

But the second half was Old Trinity’s – at least until the final few minutes.

Hugo McGlashan ran in the opening goal of the third, before Sam Barendregt converted a free kick in front of goal that put Old Trinity in front for the first time of the day, much to the delight of the raucous Ts fans positioned at the southern end of the ground, following their forwards from end to end.

Fraser Cameron put De La back in front at the 24-minute mark, his side able to wrench back the ascendency in the latter stages of the third but unable to punch a hole in the sturdy Ts defence.

A two-point margin the way of De La was indicative of the contest to that point – but Hyland’s side would have to hold off a Ts team with the breeze at their backs.

“We had to spend so much petrol in that third quarter – I thought that third quarter was our best of the year,” McDonald said later.

You could lump the opening passages of the fourth quarter into that, too – the smooth-moving Alex Emery everywhere as the Ts went up a gear, controlling territory and capitalising with two goals in the first three minutes, one a high-arcing, bending beauty from Emery, the other a sharked snap from a ruck throw-up by the brutish Thompson from 25 metres out.

Sam Mason was floating spare in defence, the organiser behind the footy for the Ts, replaced Hydra-like in the rotation by Ed Weatherson as part of an assured and stingy Old Trinity defensive unit.

Even the most bullish of De La fans would’ve felt as if the game had slipped away somewhat in those first ten minutes, the blue-and-yellow barely entering forward 50 and grimly holding on in defence.

“They were done,” said McDonald.

“But we couldn’t sustain it…it was like the 28-kilometre mark in a marathon, blokes just hit a wall.”

The Ts bench was a hive of action, multiple players cramping a week removed from a heart-stopping win over Old Geelong in the Semi Final that went to the final kick of the game.

“We had a fair few players who’d had big patches of football interruption this year – we hadn’t lost in seven weeks coming into the De La game, we had to win every week to get in,” explained McDonald.

“Backing up again, and getting pushed to the very extreme, took its toll right at the end.”

After the two-goal run, the quarter had been on equal-footing – but the territory advantage incrementally swung De La’s way across the middle and later stages. After Mulcahy fisted through an Adrian Indovino snap on goal that would’ve cut the margin to five points into time-on, the call came from the De La bench to equalise numbers, the spare defender strategy abandoned.

With no extra number to save him, Tom Filipovic secured a huge contest win at full back with the Ts threatening, leading to a fleet of blue-and-yellow jumpers charging into the breeze, and ending with Fraser Cameron landing a drop punt in the lap of Jacob Williams 35 metres out from goal.

Williams converted, cutting the margin to four points at the 23-minute mark and kicking off a truly remarkable conclusion to a gritty preliminary final.

The Ts threw another number back – De La instantly equalised, clogging its own forward fifty but creating room behind the football. That led to Tom Filipvic chasing a loose ball into centre half back, and spreading a wide kick to Liam Wood, who dodged a would-be-tackler and looked for an option from the flank.

That option was Tom Deane-Johns, who snared a contested mark and suddenly had numbers in the corridor to use from the broadcast wing. One was Tom Lyngberg at the frontmost edge of the centre square, with Jacob Williams screaming down the middle of the ground, arms splayed beseechingly for the handball receive.

“It happened very quickly. I wasn’t sure whether I was too far out, but I saw the open goal square, so I just said, ‘let’s go for it,’” Williams recalled in the rooms post-match.

From the paint of fifty and with the breeze in his face, the left-footed Williams unsheathed his longest kick of the day. It would hold up ever so slightly into the wind, and pitch on the goal-line.

“It carried. Thankfully, it just bounced over the line, and no-one was there to touch it,” Williams said.

“Yeah, it was special.”

Williams’ missile had put De La in front by two points. Chaos ensued. De La players broke off their celebrations to charge into their own defensive fifty for the next centre bounce. Trevor Barker Beach Oval blew its top and melted down with minutes left.

From the re-start, Bohan would eventually win a free kick and pushed De La to their forward arc, but only found his opposing ruckman Thompson, who marked and played on, punching a blind kick back down the far wing.

A skimming Ts handball from the contest tumbled to Oliver Scott, and in freakishly similar circumstances to Williams’ heroics moments ago, Sam Phillips loomed in the middle of the ground, darting toward goal alongside Scott from centre half forward.

Phillips’ left-foot kick was from 52 metres and looked to have the carry. An early roar went up from the Ts supporters behind the goal at the social club end of the ground, the football destined to drift through the centremost uprights with De La’s Luke Healy and Old Trinity’s Hugh Beasley haring with the flight of the Sherrin.

Healy had a head on Beasley in his charge. With a leap and an outstretched fist, the De La number 19 got a hand to the fading football right on the goal line, in front of the heaving, baying green-and-gold throng. The goal umpire was on the spot, and assuredly signalled a touched behind.

It’s a flailing, final touch that will live forever in De La folklore. With seconds left, the kick-in from Nathan Scollo found its way out the back of a contest, and into the waiting, gleeful arms of Adrian Indovino, 80 metres from goal.

In fading light, Indovino ran the ball the whole way home. No one at the ground could tell you the point at which the final siren blew – but they could tell you the football was through for another goal, and Indovino was charging, arms outstretched and mouth agape, along the boundary line to be caught by delirious teammates, and De La had made a Grand Final.

“All year, we’ve run teams off their legs in the last quarter. That’s what we did today,” coach Nick Hyland said, amidst a broiling chaos of passion post-match.

“It’s pretty emotional. Because you invest so much time and effort and energy into it, and so many people do – not just players. Coaches, support staff, the committee. So, I’m just so rapt for everyone involved in the club.”

De La will play Old Haileybury in the 2024 Premier B Men’s Grand Final on Sunday 22 September at 2:30pm at Trevor Barker Beach Oval – and both clubs will play in William Buck Premier next season.

“To see the reception in (the rooms) when we walked in, I’ve never experienced that before,” Hyland said.

“I’m so proud of them…these guys fight every minute, every contest. They never give up.”

Hyland took a moment post-song to quietly address his playing group, encouraging them to celebrate their incredible win – but to consider what their legacy could be with one more game left to play.

“It would have to be the best (win I’ve coached),” Hyland said.

“If you rewind 12 months, we play Beaumaris in a Semi Final that goes to extra time, and we lose by under a kick.

“Fast-forward 12 months and we’re in a Prelim Final. We’re down by two goals, four minutes to play and we find a way to win. It’s right up there with one of the best wins ever.”

And on Jacob Williams?

“He’s an elite player and has been for the best part of four, ten, 12, 15 years, and he’s probably the most loyal person I’ve met.

“To finish the way he did – and he was pretty sore, but he sort of willed himself, I think it just speaks volumes of his character and his competitiveness to just keep fighting for every game.”