A review of all the action from the Smithy’s VFL preliminary finals.

Werribee and Southport created history by setting up the first Smithy’s VFL Grand Final between two standalone clubs in the AFL reserves/alignment era with hard-fought preliminary final victories over star-studded opponents in horrible conditions on Saturday.

Not since Springvale defeated North Ballarat in 1999, the last year of the AFL Reserves competition, have two teams with no links to AFL clubs played each other for the VFL premiership.

Port Melbourne played the Roosters in 2008 and Williamstown in 2011, but the latter pair were aligned to North Melbourne and Western Bulldogs respectively during those seasons.

Here’s how they did it in wild weather that saw howling winds, chilly temperatures, driving rain and even sleeting hail at both grounds.

FIRST PRELIMINARY FINAL

WERRIBEE                                      1.2        3.5        4.5        10.6 (66)
SOUTHPORT SHARKS            2.4        3.4        5.10     6.10 (46)

WERRIBEE will play in back-to-back Grand Finals for the first time in its history after overrunning the Brisbane Lions by 20 points in a wet and windy Smithy’s VFL first preliminary final at Avalon Airport Oval on Saturday.

The Tigers survived a kick after the three quarter-time siren from Lions debutant Ty Gallop but still trailed a genuine to-and-fro battle by 11 points heading into the last term.

And even though they were set to have the wind their backs in the final quarter, they were against the wall having only managed nine scores to that stage.

But Hudson Garoni showed terrific presence of mind to have a contested mark disallowed but quickly throw the ball on his boot and dribble it through traffic in the third minute and the Tigers went on the hunt, grabbing the lead through an ice-cold Jack Henderson set shot in the eighth minute.

In a pressure-packed final quarter where easy disposals were impossible to find, Jake Smith extended Werribee’s lead with a brilliant left-foot snap as a hailstorm bombed the oval and sent fans scurrying for cover.

Impressive young key Liam Hude got it back immediately for the Lions but that was their last hurrah as Sam Paea (twice) and Garoni hit the target in time-on to deliver Werribee its shot at redemption after the devastation of last year’s loss to the Gold Coast Suns.

It was the Tigers’ second consecutive preliminary final win over the Lions and consigned the visitors to their third consecutive exit in the penultimate week of the season.

The Tigers have never played in two Grand Finals in a row, so they have already created history, but that will be the last thing on their mind as they aim to convert their first minor premiership since 2005 into a second flag and first since 1993.

In the end, Werribee outlasted the Lions with the more direct footy – disposals were even but the Tigers had 26 more kicks as they just tried to keep the ball going forward against the fierce pressure of a Lions team that laid a remarkable 110 tackles.

Acting captain Dom Brew starred all day in conditions perfectly suited to his fierce contest game, but lifted his team onto his shoulders in the last quarter on his way to 28 disposals (19 contested), eight clearances and 15 crunching tackles to be best afield, with Jack Henderson (25 disposals, 18 contested, seven clearances, six tackles, one goal) continuing the best year of his career.

Louis Pinnuck (23 disposals, six marks, 12 rebounds, one goal) and Riley Bice (21 disposals, six marks) were terrific in defence and centre half-forward Nick Hayes (17 disposals, six marks, one goal) did well as the link up to get the ball in for Garoni (six marks, three goals) and Paea (two goals).

Ruckmen Sam Conway and Henry Smith got through a power of work for their teams in the stoppage heavy contest, racking up 56 and 53 hitouts respectively.

2023 J.J. Liston Trophy winner Jarryd Lyons, who is one of the favourites to go back-to-back on Monday night, announced his retirement last week and couldn’t have done any more to stretch his career by another week, picking up 28 possessions (19 contested), nine clearances and eight tackles before being chaired off the ground in a guard of honour similar to that of Daniel Rich, whose decorated career ended at the same venue 12 months ago.

Deven Robertson (24 disposals, 15 contested, 16 tackles) also worked himself into the ground, as did James Tunstill (20 disposals, 12 contested, eight tackles), Bruce Reville (18 disposals, 10 contested, 14 tackles) and Jaxon Prior (17 disposals, six marks, seven rebounds), while Academy tall Gallop showed some signs on a surprise debut with eight of his nine touches being contested and including a goal.

But having lost star ruckman Darcy Fort, wingman Harry Sharp and key back Darragh Joyce when all three were taken to Sydney as carryover AFL emergencies, the Lions could not afford anything to go wrong, and it did when one of the three late inclusions in Tristen Meekin was concussed in the first half, while Shadeau Brain battled on despite several huge hits and Reville was forced off with a hamstring injury midway through the last term as Werribee surged.

BEST
Werribee: N. Hayes, D. Brew, J. Clark, A. Johnson, J. Pavlidis, H. Garoni
Brisbane Lions: J. Lyons, D. Robertson, B. Reville, J. Tunstill, J. Prior, H. Smith

GOALS
Werribee: H. Garoni 3, S. Paea 2, N. Hayes, J. Henderson, L. Pinnuck, J. Riding, J. Smith Brisbane Lions: L. Hude 2, T. Gallop, L. Lloyd, W. McLachlan, B. Ryan

SECOND PRELIMINARY FINAL

FOOTSCRAY BULLDOGS     0.1        3.5        4.6        7.9 (51)
SOUTHPORT SHARKS            1.5        4.5        9.5        9.7 (61)

A RUCKING masterclass from Brayden Crossley put Southport one game away from a remarkable maiden Smithy’s VFL premiership after a third-quarter blitz set up an upset 10-point victory over Footscray in the second preliminary final at Mission Whitten Oval.

Crossley monstered inexperienced Bulldogs Lachlan Smith and Cameron Owen and forced their coach Stewart Edge to turn to veteran swingman Ryan Gardner in a bid to curtail his influence.

But the second-generation gun’s class was evident as he piled up a stunning 71 hitouts rucking virtually one out, with expert taps releasing superstar mids Boyd Woodcock and Jacob Dawson ad nauseum.

His dominance saw Southport win hitoutst 75-42 and clearances 57-43 in the stoppage heavy contest.

The Sharks held a six-point lead at half-time in cold, wet and windy conditions far removed from what they are used to and indeed what they encountered in their two previous finals against Frankston and Geelong.

It looked like the weather Gods were well and truly against them when a fierce hailstorm swept over the ground in the opening minute of the third term as they prepared for their second shot at kicking with the strong breeze.

But what happened next was the stuff of a genuine flag contender as they not only slogged their way through the blinding and stinging hail, but dominated the quarter.

The Sharks produced a match-winning five goals to one blitz to blow the margin out to 29 by the final change, with the four unanswered majors from Jack Sexton, Wylie Buzza, Hugh Dixon and Woodcock being the game breakers.

The Bulldogs, who hadn’t been out of the top three all year and will still finish in that lofty group, threw everything at Southport in the last quarter, but the Queenslanders held firm to advance to a second Grand Final in three years.

Earlier, the Sharks dominated the opening quarter, but struggled to get a clear look at goal, missing their first five opportunities before Campbell Lake showed perfect small forward craft to break the drought in the 23rd minute.

Footscray got itself into the contest in the second term, but every time it managed a goal – to Lachlan McNeil, Diesel Moloney and Dan Orgill – Southport responded almost immediately through Keegan Gray, Jay Lockhart and Dixon.

Woodcock (33 disposals, 19 contested, 14 clearances, one goal) and Dawson (28 disposals, 19 contested, 10 clearances, six tackles) had a field day in a game where possession was otherwise dominated by Footscray.

The Bulldogs had 10 of the top 14 ballwinners as they went +65 in disposals, but the Sharks’ pressure meant most of that discrepancy came in handballs, reducing their effectiveness in the wet.

Ben Jepson, who moved north after winning Coburg’s best-and-fairest last year, has reinvented himself from a midfielder into one of the best small defenders in the competition and produced another strong display for 21 disposals, five tackles and 10 rebounds.

Midfielder Jacob Heron (14 disposals, 12 contested, 13 tackles) got down and dirty, veteran Mike Manteit (16 disposals) showed plenty of leadership and Lockhart and Dixon presented well and kicked two goals each from limited opportunities.

First-year player Joel Freijah was terrific on VFL finals debut for Footscray, picking up 27 touches, seven marks, six tackles and a goal, while veteran Jason Johannisen’s trademark dash was back on his way to 26 disposals.

Young midfielders Cooper Craig-Peters (25 disposals, 15 contested, 11 tackles) and Riley Garcia (25 disposals, 12 contested, five tackles, five entries) thrived in the conditions.

Jedd Busslinger (21 disposals, seven marks, nine rebounds) completed a terrific second season in defence, Oskar Baker (20 disposals, eight marks) was also outstanding, Anthony Scott (20 disposals, 14 contested) worked hard, James Harmes (21 disposals, 12 contested, nine tackles) made an impact after a slow start and Gardner (15 hitouts) did better than those numbers suggest as he slowed Crossley’s dominance in the Bulldogs’ last-quarter fightback.

BEST
Footscray Bulldogs: J. Freijah, R. Gardner, C. Craig-Peters, J. Harmes, R. Garcia, J. Johannisen
Southport Sharks: B. Crossley, J. Dawson, J. Joyce, B. Woodcock, M. Manteit, J. Lockhart.

GOALS
Footscray Bulldogs: C. Clarke, L. McNeil 2, J. Freijah, D. Moloney, D. Orgill
Southport Sharks: H. Dixon, J. Lockhart 2, W. Buzza, K. Gray, C. Lake, J. Sexton, B. Woodcock