And then there were two. Old Scotch ended St Kevin’s incredible run of five consecutive Premier Men’s Grand Finals, leading from start to finish in an impressive Preliminary Final performance at Elsternwick Park.
The Cardinals jumped out of the blocks and settled into the game with 3 goals in the opening 10 minutes as Ryan Valentine, Angus Symons & Cooper Lean all hit the scoresheet with an early major – Symons and Aidan Frenetic were directly involved in all three to immediately send SKOB onto the back foot.
Frenetic would open with an impressive 11 disposals and 3 Goal Assists in the first term, but last season’s runners-up didn’t panic and started creating opportunities of their own.
In fact, they dominated possession (+29 for the quarter) and Inside 50s (16-7), winning it on the inside and retaining it through uncontested chains to post the final 5 scores of the first quarter and negate the early damage as they drew back within 3 points.
QTR TIME: St Kevin’s 2.3 (15) Old Scotch 3.0 (18)
The second quarter showcased the defensive resilience of both teams, with a combined 20 Inside 50s yielding just 3 goals as both sides dug in for the long haul.
Cooper Lean booted his second goal at the 3-minute mark to re-establish some breathing room for the Cardinals before Ollie Gill kicked a beauty for SKOB 8 minutes later.
It was tight and tough contested footy with big Will Clark once again establishing a little buffer for the Cards with his first goal at the 21-minute mark.
And while Old Scotch would head to the major break with a 9-point lead, territory dominance belonged to SKOB, who had racked up a whopping 30 Inside 50s to 13 in the opening half.
With spearhead Patty Kerr held to just 4 touches, the big question became – could St Kevin’s find a way to crack the Cardinals’ defence in the second half? They had generated one extra scoring shot but trailed the relatively accurate Cards by 9 points.
HALF TIME: St Kevin’s 3.5 (23) Old Scotch 5.2 (32)
Just as they’d done in the opening term, the Cardinals seized the early initiative in the third, having the better of the first 10-12 minutes.
Skipper Andy Jelbart extended the margin to a dangerous 15 points with his goal in the opening minute as his team started breaking even in and around the contest. This allowed the Cards to balance up the territory battle and start turning most of the major stat categories for the first time all day.
Enter Tom Jok. He launched a long-range bomb at the 16-minute mark that brought the margin back to just 7 points and ignited the St Kevin’s faithful. Suddenly it felt like their team was back in the game.
And when Callum Jones added another goal for SKOB, the margin had shrunk to a single point entering time-on in the third term.
Suddenly it was incumbent on Old Scotch to stabilise the situation and the prolific Ben Hays stepped up and seized his moment 2 minutes to ensure the Cards would retain the lead they’d held all day.
But when Cardinal midfielder Aiden Franetic – who had racked up 24 disposals, 9 clearances and 9 Inside 50s to that point – limped off with a hamstring injury, it felt like SKOB were right in the contest and well capable of finishing strongly enough to secure another Grand Final berth.
With just one goal separating the teams, were we in for a Preliminary Final thriller?
3-QUARTER TIME: St Kevin’s 5.9 (39) Old Scotch 7.3 (45)
The game sat on a knife-edge for the first 7 minutes without a goal in the final term before Angus Symons bobbed up to kick his second and steel the Cardinals who now sat on a 12-point lead, and when Cooper Lean added another 2 minutes later the margin extended to 19 points which, given the tightness of the game all afternoon, suddenly felt like a significantly larger gap.
The script from earlier in the game had virtually flipped, with Old Scotch now dominating on the inside and gaining territory based on that control. The Cards finally got their damaging uncontested possession chains going and when Lean booted his 4th goal at the 16-minute mark, the 27-point advantage started to feel like a bridge too far for SKOB.
But credit to Anthony Lynch’s men, who fought on and responded with a goal to Jack Darmody at the 22-minute mark to hang in at 21 points with time to play, but when Will Clark set up Jack Polkinghorne to run into an open goal at the 25-minute mark, it was all over.
Clark was unstoppable as he took control Inside 50 and became the difference maker and VAFA Media commentator Joey Pignataro was full of praise for the big man.
“Where there’s a will there’s a way and Will Clark inspired them to victory in that final quarter. Not only did he kick two himself, he was part of 3 others, 2 of them directly to Cooper Lean.”
Ryan Valentine added another in what turned out to be an explosive 7-goal final term from the Cardinals that blew the final margin out to a comprehensive 44 points in a contest that had been much closer than that all afternoon.
FINAL SCORE: Old Scotch 14.7 (91) d. St Kevin’s 6.11 (47)
So, back-to-back 44-point finals wins for Old Scotch, who will head into Friday’s Grand Final against Old Brighton at Elsternwick Park full of confidence and belief, albeit potentially without dynamic midfielder Aidan Franetic.
But given the Tonners will be without prime-mover Harry Hill, those two absences would virtually cancel each other out.
Jubilation for Old Scotch, into their first top-flight Grand Final since 1998 and just one win away from their first top-flight premiership since 1978. What a Grand Final it promises to be!
Full credit to St Kevin’s, who gave it everything but will watch the Grand Final from the sidelines for the first time since 2016.
“St Kevin’s stayed with Scotch for three quarters but ran out of steam and were outmuscled by the Cardinals late. But the SKOB era definitely isn’t over,” said Pignataro.
“They were one kick away from being in the Grand Final a week ago and they’ve had adversity off the back of last year’s Grand Final belting.
“Plugger (Anthony Lynch’s) biggest supporter – his Mum – passed away at the start of the year. Then the Michael Pisker injury rattled the whole club, putting footy as far less of a priority. They also had injuries to key players at different points of the year.
“But they have a model for sustained success like Xavs of the late ‘90s and early 2000s.”
He was full of praise for the Cardinals.
“Yet again the defensive profile stands up in finals. Charlie Cormack marked everything in his area across half back. He was our SKINS Player of the Game.
“They have such a strong balance between defence and attack, they are skilful by foot and prepared to change lanes to attack.
Mark Gnatt (Old Scotch): “It was a great game of footy – a tough battle and neither side gave an inch.
“We got off to a great start with 3 goals in the first 10 minutes or so and then SKOB fought back and took control around the stoppages.
“However, our backs stood up brilliantly and repelled a number of inside 50s from SKOB.
“We have confidence in our ability to run out games and this proved pivotal in the final quarter.
“We have enormous respect for St Kevin’s – full credit to Plugger and his boys on yet another successful season albeit under adversity.”
Anthony Lynch (St Kevin’s): “We are obviously very disappointed not to be going on into a sixth consecutive Grand Final.
“We gave ourselves opportunities in both finals games to win, but ultimately, both Scotch and Brighton took theirs, and we didn’t and that’s finals footy.
“I think the two form teams have deservedly made the grand final and I wish them both well.
“Culturally, I couldn’t be more proud of the players and club as a whole. We have had some real challenges through the year, but we have been totally united and come together to support each other through that and those bonds will allow us to do great things in the future.”
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WILLIAM BUCK PREMIER MEN’S GRAND FINAL
OLD BRIGHTON vs OLD SCOTCH
FRIDAY 27th SEPTEMBER – 2.30pm
Elsternwick Park
LIVE COVERAGE – SEN, VAFA.com.au, KommunityTV from 1:30pm
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