By David Nagel
CRANBOURNE is one step away from the most emotional of premiership victories after the Eagles clawed deep for a grinding three point victory over Berwick in Saturday’s second semi-final at Pakenham.
The fine line between pleasure and pain for these two great sides was clearly evident as Berwick forward Tim Gunn’s last scoring shot for the match –at the 21 minute mark of the final quarter- sailed wide, reducing a four-point deficit to three and seeing the Eagles advance to a remarkable sixth consecutive grand final.
They won the first of those in 2011 –but have lost the last four on the trot, the tears welling in the eyes of midfielder Max Gearon after the match giving a clear indication of the emotion driving this year’s campaign.
Coach Simon Goosey has been open and honest about last year’s grand final failure, identifying mindset as a key area for improvement, and is now confident his team can bury the demons of the past at Starling Road in a fortnight’s time.
“We will enjoy the next two weeks, not fear it, and the things we identified last year, clearly our mindset –I’m really confident we’ve addressed those issues now,” Goosey said.
“Since we played Berwick the first time (round 5) our attitude has been spot on, and winning today allows us the time to work on what we need to work on. Last year was last year, after half time you could see we were gone mentally, but this year we’re better prepared for what’s to come.”
The Eagles will take an impressive –but largely irrelevant- 11-game winning streak into the ‘biggest show on turf’ after prevailing in a game dominated by the defensive units of both teams.
The Wickers took the confidence gained from last week’s flying finish against Narre Warren into the first quarter, Kurt Batt and Tim Gunn winning some crucial one-on-ones against Stu Morrish and Anthony Vella respectively, while co-captains Micky Harold and Madi Andrews were matching Ryan Davey and co in the clinches.
Early goals to Ben Kearns and Mitch Johnson gave the Wickers the early edge, but the Eagles settled into their work after 15 minutes of play. A signature class finish from Mat Fletcher set the Eagles alight, kicking four of the next five goals heading into half time to take a five-point lead at the break.
Ash Smith and Luke Sheppard were providing plenty of run for the Wickers, but had trouble spotting up targets in the forward 50. It was similar story for the Eagles, with Fletcher, Davey and Shaun Marusic having their great work ruined by a frugal Wicker’s defence.
Both teams wasted their rare opportunities to strike, Ryan Jones and Troy Tharle missing absolute sitters in the first term, with Smith and Gunn returning the favour with more difficult opportunities in the second.
For Berwick, Mark Weekes was proppy after an early fall on his right hip, while Cranbourne was down a rotation from early in the second term after Glenn Osborne, who had the big job on Kearns, went into a pack optimistically, and came out misty optically. (Sorry for stealing that one Dennis Cometti).
Cranbourne’s commitment to its tackling in the first half was exemplified by a crunching tackle on the normally elusive Sheppard, who was struck down with force after a blindsided Eagle attack.
An early third-quarter goal to Luke Bee-Hugo was answered by Luke Nelson, before the Eagles opened up the biggest lead of the match midway through the third term. Jones dribbled one through from the pocket at the eight-minute mark, before finishing off some great work from first-gamer Nick Darbyshire from further up the ground.
The Eagles were 17 points up –the champs needed to respond!
And they did, with goals to Johnson and a long right-foot snap from Gunn, cutting the margin back to four points at the final break. Eagles ruckman Michael Boland had a great third quarter, while Michael Johnson was stopping the dam wall from caving in for the Wickers in defence.
“There’s great opportunity here boys, it’s now up to you to take it with both hands,” Goosey roared, before his players dispersed for one last effort.
Tharle fortunately found himself on the end of the worst forward entry of the match, kicking the Eagles out to a 10-point lead, before Darbyshire piloted an awkward, but season-defining, left footer through the big sticks at the 11-minute mark to stretch the lead out to 15.
A quick answer from Kearns, and another to Johnson at the 17-minute mark, gave us the one-kick thriller we were hoping for, with Gunn’s last-ditched attempt sailing wide. A massive, but fair, hit by Davey on Andrew Morozoff, and a great tackle by Michael Thompson on Kearns highlighted the Eagles desperation to get the job done.
Goosey was full of praise for his side, who lost Osborne early, had Darbyshire on debut, and Thompson playing his first game for the season.
“We were down a rotation, and that’s why, as a coach, I’m really proud of the effort to dig deep,” Goosey said.
“We had a first gamer in Nick Derbyshire, he kicked our last goal, you couldn’t write the script better, a young bloke comes in and kicks the goal that gets us through to a grand final. Thommo came in for his first game of the year as well, so the good part about it is we have solid depth, so we’re well placed heading in this year.”
Berwick coach Rhys Nisbet said his side had learned great lessons, despite the disappointment.
“We take a hell of a lot from that game, we played in patches and still only lost by three points, that’s the biggest positive but there were a few negatives we had to highlight straight after the game as well,” Nisbet said, highlighting forward entries as a key area to improve on.
“I don’t mind us going in there with a bit of mayhem at times, but it can’t be every time, we need to settle around structured type football a bit more.”
Jones and Bee-Hugo kicked two each for the winners, who had defender Dillan Bass join Marusic, Davey, Fletcher and Boland on a star-studded best players list.
Kearns and Mitch Johnson finished with three each for the Wickers, with Smith, Andrews, Jo West and Michael Johnson playing pivotal roles in keeping their side in the hunt.
Berwick will now take on either Narre Warren or Beaconsfield in next Saturday’s preliminary final at Holm Park Reserve.
CRANBOURNE 2.2 4.6 7.8 9.10 (64)
BERWICK 3.4 3.7 6.10 8.13 (61)
Cranbourne Goals: R. Jones 2, L. Bee-Hugo 2. Best: D. Bass, S. Marusic, R. Davey.
Berwick Goals: B. Kearns 3, M. Johnson 3. Best: A. Smith, M. Andrews, J. West.
