By DAVID NAGEL
SOUTH EAST FOOTBALL NETBALL LEAGUE REVIEW – ROUND 2
BERWICK should have known better … Lions are renowned for sneaking up on their prey.
Depending on whom you talk to, Berwick either stopped, or Pakenham’s superior fitness took a hold in a stunning last 15 minutes of the Wickers’ heart-stopping six-point victory over the Lions at Toomuc Reserve.
No-one at the ground, barring Pakenham’s inspirational playing-coach Steve O’Bryan, gave the Lions a chance, after they had made little inroads into the Wickers’ 48-point lead at three-quarter time.
But then something happened – O’Bryan’s intensity spread like wildfire, the Wickers sitting back as the Lions won contest after contest, clearance after clearance, and in the end falling six points short of what would have been a famous victory.
It was tense alright, the Lions winning the last centre-clearance of the match, the siren sounding as the TW Sherrin floated inside the home-side’s forward 50.
The obvious question to ask Berwick coach Rhys Nisbet after the match was … How’s the ticker?
“It’s alright now, but it just snuck up on us in that last five minutes,” Nisbet said.
“We were reacting on the bench, and that’s when you know you’re in a bit of trouble. It was pretty stressful towards the end I can tell you.”
Nisbet warned his side at three-quarter time of what may lay ahead.
I told the players that if they get a sniff, their big crowd will get behind them and their young kids will lift,” he said.
“We were aware of it, but it really didn’t happen until the last 10 minutes. Full credit to Pakenham for coming back, but there’s no doubt we dropped off big time at the centre clearances and around the stoppages.”
It was a remarkable game of footy really, with Berwick toying with the Lions, kicking 7.2 to 0.2 in a wind-assisted first-quarter blast. Ben Kearns had Nathan Brown’s measure, kicking three in the first term, as the Wickers looked a class above.
Ryan Hillard was doing a job on Jake Smith; Tim Vrevc was nullifying Dean Blake’s influence around the ground, while Jo West, Michael Johnson, Lucas Jellyman-Turner and Michael Riseley were impenetrable down back. And captain Madi Andrews was aggressive at the contest all day.
The game plateaued through the middle stages before the Lions went from the hunted to the hunter in the final term. Nisbet blamed his side’s poor ball-use for the turnaround.
“We controlled the footy in the first half, but we just kicked it straight back to them after half time with just really poor skills, and not under a lot of pressure at times.”
Pakenham showed character to come back, with O’Bryan absolutely sensational with his never-say-die approach that infiltrated his side in the final term. The Lions were missing key players in Russell Lehman, Jake Barclay, Chris Smith and Brad Cavalot … so can be proud of their efforts in the end.
Kearns was the standout up forward for Berwick, finishing the day with five, while Beau Wheeler’s three goals and O’Bryan’s two, kept the Lions in the contest.
Nisbet finished on a positive before heading home for stiff Scotch on the rocks.
“The bottom line is we’re rapt to come away from here with the four points. Our first quarter was just super, and we’d set ourselves for this one, so it was great to see everyone up and about.”
