BIRCHIP-Watchem are through to their second grand final in three seasons after defeating Sea Lake Nandaly in a heart-stopping second semi-final by two points on Saturday.
Despite trailing by 24 points at three-quarter-time, the Tigers came home with a wet sail after having last use of the windy conditions, kicking four last-quarter goals but still falling agonisingly short of pulling off a remarkable come-from-behind win.
It was a case of missed opportunities for Sea Lake Nandaly, who finished the match with three straight behinds in the dying minutes when fighting for the lead in the 11.9 (75) to 10.13 (73) result.
The Tigers will now play a resurgent Wedderburn in this Saturday’s North Central preliminary final, with the winner to meet the Bulls in the grand final back at the Donald Recreation Reserve.
It will be the Bulls’ second grand final under Trevor Ryan since his return to the helm in 2021, having led the club to glory in 2022 to break a 21-year premiership drought.
The veteran coach was impressed with his team’s second-quarter performance which ultimately proved decisive.
“It was a game of moments and I thought we made the most of ours,” Ryan said.
“Our second quarter was really good compared with how hard it was to score into that wind, we made everything out of every time we went forward, and we were lucky to get a couple of goals, which made a huge difference.
“Conditions were pretty tough, especially at Donald’s ground, it was really one-end footy with the wind blowing straight down the ground, but to our credit we seemed to have the game played on our terms, which set us up.
“At three-quarter-time we were confident we could hold them out like we did in the second quarter, but to their credit they came at us hard.
“We let a few easy centre breaks go their way and they snagged a couple of goals, and they were pretty hard to stop.
“We put extra men behind the ball and stopped the footy as best we could, trying to wind the clock down in our back 50, and we just hung on.
“Our midfield was really good all day. Theirs was too, but I thought our midfield controlled the ball in the first half and our running half-backs stood out too, they played with a bit of composure, used the ball really well and set us up going into half-time.”
Lachlan Ryan and Angus Butterfield were influential and provided the Bulls with plenty of run and drive off half-back, with Meyrick Buchanan, Nick Rippon and Hamish Hosking in the ruck finding plenty of the ball around the stoppages.
Thomas Cox and Feeny Medallist Wade Donnan were among Sea Lake Nandaly’s better players, along with Luke Martin, Tyson McKenzie and Jack Poulton.
While conditions were far from conducive to high scoring, the battle of the full forwards was a one-sided contest, with Birchip-Watchem spearhead Ben Edwards kicking four majors, and Josh Jenkins held goalless for the Tigers.
“Full credit to Birchip-Watchem, they were too good in that first half, and we just left ourselves too much work to do,” Sea Lake Nandaly co-coach Bryce Delmenico said.
“They started with the wind, which was blowing straight down the ground, and 20 minutes into the first quarter I would have said we won the quarter, but they kicked a couple of late goals to even it up.
“Then when we went with the wind, they turned up the heat. They outworked us to be honest and attacked the footy harder.
“We gave away a couple of 50-metre penalties which was unlike us but in the end, they just took their opportunities.
“I have full belief that we’re a lot fitter than them, so I knew we would come pretty hard at some stage, and it got to the last quarter and we did.
“It was a game of missed opportunities for us, including dropping several marks inside 50 in that last quarter as well.
“We had our chances and there’s a lot of positives to take out of it, but then there’s some areas that we need to work on as well and now we look ahead to Wedderburn.
“They are a pretty fit side and they’re in good form as well, so we’ll dial in on them and train for them this week.
“Everything we do will revolve around the way they play now, but we won’t shy away from the way we want to play either.”
