By RUSSELL BENNETT
“THE past five years we’ve accepted being okay – just alright. Not today. We don’t accept defeat today, we can’t afford to.
It’s going to be tough at times, but when it gets tough – we just get f****** tougher! This is a big opportunity for the football club. We might break them in the second quarter, or we might break them with two minutes to go in the last. We just have to stick to the task all day and we will break them.
“We spread, and spread, and spread and own the outside!”
– Chris Jones
NAR Nar Goon caretaker coach Chris Jones was in no mood for his side’s remarkable season to end on Saturday. And neither were his men.
No team in the competition has been through more in 2015, and a lesser group would have been broken long before Sunday’s cut-throat semi-final. The fact they even made the finals is remarkable in itself, but after making it there was no way they were just going to make up the numbers. These boys have too much fight; too much spirit for that. They play with aggression at both ends of the ground, and they play for each other, and they play for the jumper.
Jones’ words would still have been ringing in the ears of the likes of Brent Hughes and Chris Adams as they left the rooms, but the steely resolve was already etched on their faces long before he said them.
The Goon’s first quarter laid the foundations for their 56-point win – 20.7 (127) to 10.11 (71) – and the second term cemented them.
They were at a huge size disadvantage in the ruck, but the likes of inspirational skipper Hughes, Josh Grant, Mat Slattery and Brendan Hermann refused to be outworked through the middle. And out wide was where the boys from Spencer Street really cut them up – with Chris Adams and Nick Henwood starring.
Young Mitch Virtue was earmarked for a permanent role as a crumbing forward and this may well have been a coming of age performance from him as he booted two goals in a 20-second stretch at one stage in the opening term and finished with five majors for the match.
Chris Langley (also five goals) was unflinching in his role as a lead-up forward – and finished the day on the bench with concussion symptoms; paying the price for his ferocity at the contest.
Shannon Stocco (two goals) is in many ways the heart and soul of this team, and he literally bled for the cause on Sunday when an undisciplined Dusties side lost its way in the second term. Bleeding from a cut to the head, he came off only to get it bandaged up so he could get right back into the action – there was no way he was going to spend a second off the ground longer than he had to.
He, along with Ash Adams, played their roles perfectly – getting in their heads of their Dusties opponents at key times.
The Goon kicked four unanswered goals in the first term, and converted that into a 46-point lead at the main break. While their outside run and the quality of their forward 50 entries were brilliant to watch, so was their intensity at the contest and pressure when they didn’t have the ball. Jones wouldn’t accept one-way running, and this group would expect more from each other.
The second half didn’t exactly live up to the standard of the first, but the game already appeared over 10 minutes into the third term.
The Dusties were badly missing midfield star Joel Gibson (who tore his ACL late in the game last week against Cora Lynn) and Jeremy Cattanach (a head injury), while Daniel Johnson suffered what looked to be a serious shoulder injury during the game.
Josh Peterson and Anthony Alderuccio stepped up in their absence along with the likes of Rhett O’Hara and Ben Northover but many of Warragul’s potential match-winners were well-held – including their dangerous forward line, while the likes of Jesse Cribbes, Jacob Sweeney, Luke Failla and Tyler Payroli stood tall for the Goon.
Heart, soul and a sheer desire to lay it all on the line for each other and their club – these are the things that have the boys from the Goon through to their first preliminary final since 2010.
For so much more on the game, including post-match thoughts from Nar Nar Goon coach Chris Jones and a range of action photos, pick up a copy of this week’s Gazette – out first thing Wednesday morning.
Click the videos below to watch Shannon Stocco boot one of his two majors; and the Nar Nar Goon faithful belt out a huge rendition of their famous song.
