Harcourt survived a fierce battle with Carisbrook to advance to a preliminary final showdown with Natte Bealiba following their 22-point victory on Sunday at Princes Park.
A high-quality game played in a tricky breeze was just the ticket for patrons on Sunday afternoon, and the game had its showstopping opening when Matt Bilton put through the first goal after mere seconds with a spectacular effort from inside the centre square.
That was matched in the opening minutes by a terrific crumb from Ben Leech, who answered with the Lions’ first goal.
Jed Rodda soon had the Lions’ second, and with three goals in the first four minutes, it looked like a hectic start to the game.
A 17-minute holding pattern followed, but it was worth the wait as Braydon Vaz lit up Princes Park with a spectacular effort from deep in the pocket, beating the outstretched arms of Jeremy McInnes and using the breeze expertly to thread the needle.
With Harcourt leading by 13 points at the first change, Carisbrook needed a response, and it would come through Ricky Pearson, who goaled from close range to reduce the margin to seven points.
The rest of the quarter belonged to Harcourt, however, and goals to Nathan Anderson and Riely Thiesz allowed the Lions to open up a 20-point lead at the main break.
Carisbrook desperately needed a response to open the second half. Luckily, they had Bilton in the middle, and his clearance helped put the Redbacks in a scoring position, where Tim Rinaldi would goal.
Two minutes later, he would add a second, and when Jackson Bowen kicked a goal from a set shot at the seven-minute mark, it was suddenly game on, with the margin at one point.
Theisz would provide a second important goal to get the Lions back out to an eight-point buffer, which brought about an immediate response from Pearson.
A brilliant response from Luke Anderson yielded yet another wonderful goal from the weekend, and it was the Lions who led by eight points at the final change.
The Lions, at this juncture, were also a man down due to a yellow card, so the Redbacks were keen to capitalise.
They kicked the opening goal of the final term through Rinaldi to set up a potential grandstand finish.
Harcourt had other ideas, however, and they were able to expertly create a contest game by drawing numbers to the ball, and it was a stoppage inside forward 50 where Patrick Gretgrix was able to kick a brilliant goal in congestion to help the Lions answer.
Carisbrook asked many questions, but fittingly, it was the Lions’ main man, Cameron Anderson, who finished the game off with a terrific snap to seal the Lions’ passage through to a preliminary final.
Thomas Walters added another goal on the siren.
Thiesz, Kaleb McBride, Jordan Gartside, Walters, Vaz and Mark Noonan were all named in Harcourt’s best, while Carisbrook did not name their best players at the time of production.
Harcourt playing-coach Carl Thiesz was pleased with the way the Lions were able to bounce back from their loss to Trentham last week.
“From last week, I never doubted the boys to bounce back. I know what this group is about, and one bad game doesn’t make a season. Their workrate has been high throughout the whole year, so to get to contest to contest and keep winning the ball was sensational,” he said.
“Carisbrook are a really good side. We came prepared, and we knew it was do-or-die. We threw everything at it, and we’re going week-by-week.”
Carl believes it was the Lions ability to play against the wind which helped their cause throughout the day.
“We played really well into the breeze — it was a tricky, swirling breeze, so the boys moved the football really well and set ourselves up. We used the ball okay with the breeze, but into the breeze, we ran and carried really well,” he said.
Carl also heaped praise on the Anderson trio, with Cameron, Luke and Nathan all popping up for important roles.
“They’re gut runners, they train the house down week-in, week-out, and prepare really well, so it’s handy having those three boys on our side. I’d rather have them running the ball for us than trying to chase them down. I think it does start with Cam, but all three do the right things to play the footy they do,” he said.
Carl says the team has been set up this year for the wider expanses of Princes Park, while they have self-managed their expectations given the large amount of success their core players, as well as their recruits, have enjoyed throughout the last two seasons.
“We have set our side up for the finals series. There are a few more smaller grounds around the league and we have set ourselves up for this with our gut run, run and carry and handball receives, so it was something we were looking forward to. We’ve set ourselves up for a ground like Princes Park,” he said.
“We have also brought in a fair bit of premiership success from Marong, so the boys know what to do, and they are driven and really hungry.”
To that end, Carl is looking forward to the challenge of facing the white-hot Natte Bealiba next week.
“There’s plenty on the line. We’ve had a great tussle with them throughout the year and hopefully there is another one as well. We’ll be putting our best foot forward to get over the line, but it will be a hard contest. We have to play really well, stick to our structures and do what we’ve done all year,” he said.