A review of all the action from Wildcard Round of the 2024 Smithy’s VFL season.
FIRST QUALIFYING FINAL
WERRIBEE 3.1 5.7 6.8 8.9 (57)
GEELONG CATS 0.2 1.2 2.5 5.6 (36)
WERRIBEE’s professionalism shone through like a beacon in difficult conditions as it outclassed Geelong by 21 points in their Smithy’s VFL qualifying final at Avalon Airport Oval.
Kicking into the howling wind in the first quarter, the Tigers gave absolutely nothing away. They defended strongly until Flynn Young kicked the first goal at the 15-minute mark and spiked from there with majors to small forwards Zac Banch and Jay Dahlhaus to lead by 17 at the first break.
They could have had the game locked up at half-time after dominating their turn with the wind, but they still hit the sheds with a 29-point advantage despite spraying 2.6 to the Cats’ 1.0.
It didn’t faze them as they got down to work again, holding Geelong to 1.3 in the third term while adding 1.1 of their own, and while the visitors won the last quarter with three goals they were never in the contest and finished with their lowest score in 35 meetings against the Tigers.
Werribee was +80 in disposals and a whopping +61 in marks as they retained possession and kept Geelong under intense pressure throughout, allowing the Cats just 162 kicks from their 286 disposals.
Riley Bice continued to lift his stocks as a Fothergill-Round-Mitchell Medal contender after piling up 35 disposals, nine marks and seven rebounds in another assured display at half-back for the Tigers.
Arguably the league’s best defender Nathan Cooper slotted seamlessly back in from a long-term ankle injury with 14 touches and seven marks in his 100th NEAFL/VFL match and Louis Pinnuck (22 disposals, 10 marks) also helped repel most Geelong attacks.
Dom Brew (33 disposals, 15 contested, nine tackles, nine clearances) was again dominant and Jesse Clark (21 disposals, nine marks) and Hudson Garoni (17 disposals, nine marks, one goal) provided strong support.
However, they were tipped out for best afield honours by the grunt and class of Jack Henderson (22 disposals, 10 contested, six tackles, six clearances).
Sam De Koning’s first VFL appearance for three years provided exactly what the Cats wanted from him – blow out the cobwebs, get through safely, and be his team’s best player with 18 touches (nine contested), 23 hitouts and five entries.
Mitch Hardie (24 disposals), Brandan Parfitt (19 disposals, 11 contested, 14 tackles) and Ted Clohesy (20 disposals, 10 contested, six clearances, one goal) did well at his feet and Emerson Jeka (18 disposals, six marks, seven rebounds) stood up down back.
BEST
Werribee: J. Henderson, D. Brew, N. Cooper, Z. Banch, L. Pinnuck, C. Thar
Geelong Cats: S. De Koning, M. Hardie, B. Parfitt, E. Jeka, T. Clohesy, O. Mullin
GOALS
Werribee: J. Dahlhaus, B. Malual 2, Z. Banch, H. Garoni, H. Grintell, F. Young
Geelong Cats: J. Clark 2, K. Bradtke, T. Clohesy, P. Foster
FIRST ELIMINATION FINAL
SOUTHPORT SHARKS 6.8 16.10 22.13 30.15 (195)
FRANKSTON 0.0 4.2 9.4 16.7 (103)
THE VFL’s newest standalone club wrote itself into the record books in a stunning scoring avalanche as Southport brought the Frankston fairytale to a brutal end with a 92-point thumping at Fankhauser Reserve that took the game back to the VFA’s awesome 80s.
The Sharks’ score of 30.15 (195) smashed the records of their highest NEAFL/VFL tally (174 vs NT Thunder in 2018), highest finals score (109 vs Redland in 2013) and highest score against the Dolphins (115 in 2022).
The 92-point margin was their biggest against the Dolphins (80 points in 2022) and their biggest finals win (55 vs Sydney in the 2018 NEAFL Grand Final).
It was also the highest VFA/VFL score since Collingwood kicked 201 against the Northern Blues in Round 1, 2018, and the highest score in a final since Sandringham’s 208 against Coburg in 1985, while ranking as the equal fifth highest finals score in the league’s history.
For Frankston’s part, its own tally of 16.7 (103) – which was good enough to beat Gold Coast last week – was its highest score against Southport (57 twice), its highest losing finals score since kicking 115 against North Ballarat in the 1998 first semi and the overall highest losing finals score since Geelong’s 110 against Essendon in a 2016 eliminator.
But there’s still more. The 298 points aggregate is the 10th highest combined tally in VFA/VFL finals history and the highest in the VFL era.
It was the highest combined score since Brunswick and Oakleigh put on 312 in the 1985 Grand Final to knock the 295 points of the 1984 decider between Box Hill and Oakleigh out of the top 10.
For all the records, however, the match was never a real contest as Southport mauled Frankston from the opening bounce,
The Sharks ran in waves and Keegan Gray set the tone with two early goals as they racked up 20 inside-50s to seven, with only poor kicking (6.8 to 0.0) costing them a bigger lead than 44 points.
The Dolphins finally got their teeth into the game with back-to-back goals from the boundary to Seb Quirk and Nick Burke early in the second term but Southport quickly responded against the wind, slamming on 10 goals for the term to blow the margin out to 80 points at half-time.
Southport won disposals 104-55 in the second quarter alone, scoring 13 times from 15 entries as Frankston literally could not lay a glove on the white guernseys, laying just 13 tackles for the half.
The third quarter was a free-flowing exhibition as the Sharks added 6.3 to Frankston’s 5.2 and it was more of the same in the last with a remarkable 15 goals kicked.
Southport won every stat category – disposals (403-296), marks (121-82), clearances (47-30), hitouts (57-23), inside-50s (64-45) and even tackles (40-32) as it stamped its premiership credentials in swashbuckling style.
Boyd Woodcock put the exclamation mark on the win with a cheeky back-heeled goal late in the last term of his 100th State league match.
Gold Coast premiership player Campbell Lake was best afield for the Sharks with a career-best 25 disposals and three goals, but he had plenty of challengers.
Zac Foot (26 disposals, nine marks, four goals), Woodcock (30 disposals, 10 clearances, two goals), Jacob Dawson (31 disposals, nine clearances, one goal), Jacob Heron (24 disposals, 12 clearances), Matt Shannon (21 disposals, nine marks, three goals) and Dixon (15 disposals, 10 marks, five goals) all did as they pleased and Jay Lockhart (four goals) and Gray (three) both hit the scoreboard.
Gown stepped up in the second half to finish with five goals to help the Dolphins restrict the damage, while Quirk (20 disposals, 11 contested, two goals), Grey (23 disposals, one goal), Trent Mynott (21 disposals, six marks), Taj Campbell-Farrell (21 disposals, six marks, one goal) and Tyson Milne (20 disposals, one goal) tried hard all day.
BEST
Southport Sharks: C. Lake, H. Dixon, M. Willis, J. Heron, J. Dawson, Z. Foot
Frankston: N. Gown, S. Quirk, T. Mynott, G. Grey, J. Voss, T. Milne
GOALS
Southport Sharks: H. Dixon 5, Z. Foot, J. Lockhart 4, K. Gray, C. Lake, M. Shannon 3, W. Buzza, B. Woodcock 2, J. Dawson, J. Edwards, B. Jepson, J. Sexton
Frankston: N. Gown 5, M. Johnson, S. Quirk 2, N. Burke, T. Campbell-Farrell, G. Grey, T. Milne, J. Newnes, L. Riley, J. Stern
SECOND QUALIFYING FINAL
FOOTSCRAY BULLDOGS 2.1 5.8 7.8 12.10 (82)
BRISBANE LIONS 3.3 5.4 9.5 12.6 (78)
RYAN Gardner proved to be the ultimate hero in a quarter of heroes as Footscray booked a home preliminary final with an epic four-point qualifying final victory over the Brisbane Lions at Mission Whitten Oval.
In a remarkable final quarter that saw seven lead changes, Gardner was the recipient of a downfield free kick, snapping the set-shot goal as the clock ticked to 34 minutes to give the Bulldogs the lead for the last time.
There was still more drama to come as the Lions surged forward once more and Darcy Craven, who had earlier kicked seemingly the winning goal, took an uncontested mark 40m out five seconds before the siren.
His kick was on target until the last couple of metres, when the strong wind pushed it right and dropped it on the behind line to spark raucous celebrations from the healthy blue, red and white faithful in attendance.
Earlier, the wind played havoc but certainly didn’t affect the highlights reel as the Lions led by eight points at quarter-time before the Bulldogs missed their chance to take command by kicking 3.7 in the second term to only stick their noses in front by four.
The game continued to see-saw as the visitors added four goals to two on their second turn with the wind, putting themselves nine points to the good turning for home.
Then the contest really came to life.
Swingman Buku Khamis, who had been outstanding in defence against the wind, turned into the most dangerous key forward on the ground as he won a free at the top of the square and convertedr before Rhylee West, on return from a broken jaw, scythed through heavy traffic to drill a ripper and put the Bulldogs in front.
The visitors had it back two minutes later when Jarryd Lyons got goalside of James Harmes and volleyed a beauty off the outside of the boot.
Dom Bedendo missed everything from a 25m set shot and Dan Orgill did the same with a left foot snap, but Harmes, who probably just tipped out Lions’ ruckman Darcy Fort for best afield honours, roved a boundary tap and snapped truly to change the lead once more.
The ball spent the next three minutes camped in the Lions’ forward 50 and they got their reward when James Tunstill spotted up young tall Luke Lloyd in the pocket and he calmly nailed the set shot for the fourth lead change of the quarter.
Caleb Poulter’s left-foot snap from near the boundary line was narrow as the clock ticked into time on and it took three minutes for another opportunity when a classy pass from the returning Jason Johannisen found Khamis 30m out a metre inside the boundary and he produced a pearler of a set shot to regain the lead for Footscray.
Khamis had a chance to ice the game in the 29th minute from a similar spot but went for the snap this time and hooked it too far and the Lions went coast-to-coast with Henry Smith’s kick to 35m being clunked by 177cm Craven in a pack also featuring 200cm-plus pair Fort and Cam Owen, and his goal seemingly delivered victory for his team.
But Shadeau Brain tried to hit up Tunstill with a short pass on the wing and he dropped a mark he should have taken, with Nick Coffield swooping on the footy, handballing over to Arthur Jones, who gave it to Cooper Craig-Peters.
The Fothergill-Round-Mitchell Medal contender’s kick skewed into the pocket but he was adjudged to have received illegal contact after disposing of the ball which led to the downfield free kick which was converted by Gardner.
Footscray dominated possession, having 80 more disposals than their opponents (+71 handballs) despite Fort monstering Owen and Lachlan Smith in the ruck for an 81-37 hitout domination that delivered a 49-42 clearance win for the Lions.
Fort finished with 18 disposals, 68 hitouts, 12 clearances, nine inside-50s and six tackles in a powerful performance, with the Bulldog pair combining for 12 touches, 36 hitouts and a goal to Smith.
Harmes (37 disposals, eight tackles, one goal) was in brilliant form to balance that out, with midfield support coming from Riley Garcia (28 disposals, 15 contested, seven clearances), Poulter (24 disposals, five marks) and Ryley Sanders (21 disposals, 12 contested, 14 tackles).
Jedd Busslinger (21 disposals, 10 marks, eight rebounds) was again brilliant in defence, helped in the first and third quarters by Khamis (16 disposals, nine marks, two goals), while Jones was in electric form as he aims to retain his spot in the Western Bulldogs’ team for this week’s AFL elimination final with three brilliant goals.
Johannisen (18 disposals) got through his first match since May unscathed and West worked hard for his 12 touches (nine contested) and a goal to also put his hand up.
Lyons worked his way into the game after a quiet first half and finished with 23 touches, 13 clearances, six tackles and 2.3 for the visitors, 50th gamer James Madden (15 disposals, five marks) took the game on at every opportunity, Tunstill (20 disposals, 11 contested, nine tackles) didn’t give up and Academy graduate Liam Hude impressed with three goals.
BEST
Footscray Bulldogs: J. Harmes, B. Khamis, R. Garcia, N. Coffield, A. Jones, A. Scott
Brisbane Lions: J. Lyons, J. Madden, J. Tunstill, J. Prior, D. Fort, H. Sharp
GOALS
Footscray Bulldogs: A. Jones 3, B. Khamis 2, O. Baker, C. Clarke, R. Gardner, J. Harmes, D. Orgill, L. Smith, R. West
Brisbane Lions: L. Hude 3, D. Craven, J. Lyons, W. McLachlan 2, K. Dunkley, L. Lloyd, H. Smith
SECOND ELIMINATION FINAL
BOX HILL HAWKS 0.1 2.5 4.7 7.10 (52)
WILLIAMSTOWN 3.5 4.7 8.14 11.14 (80)
WILLIAMSTOWN became the first team to reach the last six after competing in Wildcard Round, with the Seagulls’ jumping the Box Hill Hawks early and seeing off a mid-match rally to claim a convincing 28-point elimination final victory at Box Hill City Oval.
Both teams went in without several injured stars, with the Hawks’ returning AFL talent giving them favouritism and they swept forward from the bounce only to be denied by the Seagulls’ defence and the visitors took over, kicking three goals in the first 10 minutes – two to Corey Ellison – and not conceding another score for the quarter.
Brodie McLaughlin’s first goal early in the second gave Williamstown a 28-point lead before Box Hill started to fight back, adding goals through youngsters Jake Arundell and Nathan Philactides to halve the deficit by half-time.
The Hawks got within two points early in the third when Max Ramsden and Jack O’Sullivan made it four in a row but that was the home team’s final stand.
Ellison booted his third in the eighth minute before McLaughlin banged on three in a row in time-on to re-establish a game-high 31-point lead turning for home.
Williamstown then only had to match the Hawks’ output in the last to book itself a flight to Queensland to take on the Brisbane Lions in a semi final for the second year in a row.
Interceptors Joel Fitzgerald (31 disposals, seven marks, nine rebounds) and Jake Greiser (29 disposals, seven marks, 11 rebounds) were the stars for Williamstown in the absence of Finn O’Dwyer and Luke Parks.
Riley Collier-Dawkins bounced back from a bout of heatstroke that curtailed him late in the Wildcard Round win over Richmond to have 25 touches, seven clearances and six inside-50s and James Cousins (21 disposals, 10 contested, one goal) also stood up.
McLaughlin (four goals) and Ellison (three) caused plenty of headaches for the Box Hill defence, which was led by a starring role from Jai Serong, who had career bests in disposals (29) and rebounds (15) to go with 10 marks.
Finn Maginness (31 disposals, nine clearances, seven tackles, one goal) was magnificent on the ball for the Hawks, with support coming from Josh Ward (25 disposals, seven marks, seven entries), Henry Hustwaite (22 disposals, 14 contested, seven tackles, seven clearances), Seamus Mitchell (23 disposals), Stu Horner (21 disposals, eight marks) and Arundell (20 disposals, nine marks, one goal).
Chad Wingard had eight touches and laid six tackles in what turned out to be his final game after announcing his retirement on Monday morning.
BEST
Box Hill Hawks: J. Serong, F. Maginness, J. Ward, H. Hustwaite, J. Arundell, S. Horner
Williamstown: J. Fitzgerald, J. Greiser, R. Collier-Dawkins, B. McLaughlin, J. Cousins, W. Fordham
GOALS
Box Hill Hawks: J. Arundell, F. Maginness, J. O’Sullivan, N. Philactides, M. Ramsden, J. Ward, D. Wood
Williamstown: B. McLaughlin 4, C. Ellison 3, N. Colenso, J. Cousins, W. Fordham, J. McHale
