HOPPERS Crossing pulled off a Houdini act to come from behind and upset Port Melbourne Colts by five points in a cutthroat Western Region Football League division 1 first semi-final at Avalon Airport Oval on Sunday.
The Warriors extricated themselves from a perilous position with a mind-blowing late recovery to book their ticket to Saturday’s blockbuster preliminary final against Spotswood at Avalon Airport Oval.
The outlook was grim for the Warriors as late as the last quarter, after they had trailed by 35 points at quarter-time, 28 at the half and 20 entering the last. The Colts had further extended their lead with the first goal of the last quarter and the Warriors were at a roll-the-dice stage.
Warriors coach David Mitchell took control of the situation. He made the brave move of taking Daniel Riosa from full-back, where he was at least on par with Colts star forward Jase Perkins, and threw him into the ruck to give youngster Scott Greenhough a well-earned breather after battling one of the league’s premier ruckmen, Brad Julier, for the best part of 3½ quarters.
The move worked a treat because Riosa leaped over a tiring Julier, putting the ball down the throats of his onballers.
“It was a master stroke move,” Warriors captain Brad Murphy said. “We couldn’t lose the game at that stage — we could only win it. He tapped it down my throat three times and we got three centre clearances. He said ‘I’m going to tap it here, here and here’ and I just got there and it landed on my chest. We got three quick goals from it.”
The goals to Brydon Coles, his second of the game, former captain Jake Mutton and Kieran Butty got the Warriors to within a kick.
With scores level, the Colts had a prime opportunity to move ahead by six points, but a Steven McAnulty banana kick went astray and it gave the Warriors a chance to relaunch for one last push for a match-winner.
The Warriors’ kick-out structure allowed them to negotiate a passage through the Colts’ forward press and a nice build-up of play would see the ball land in the bread basket of forward Kade Carey.
It was a tough kick, five metres in from the boundary and he had to kick punt it his full range. There were options, but this was a job for the No. 1 forward, the big-name recruit, and he delivered with a goal to put the Warriors ahead by five points with a minute to go.
“The confidence of the bloke to go back and kick goals from the 50-metre line when the game was there to be won is unbelievable,” Murphy said.
“He kicked it through goal post high — an unbelievable kick.”
The last minute was, in the words of Murphy, “total chaos”.
The Warriors were trying everything to hold out the Colts and the Aaron Ramsay concession of a 50-metre penalty did nothing to help their cause.
The Colts launched the ball as long and hard as they possibly could, only to be met with the water-tight defence of the Warriors, who flooded their backline with bodies.
Stuck in the zone, Murphy did not hear the final siren — just the reaction of the Warriors fans.
“They booted it into the goal square and we all just dived in on the footy,” Murphy said. Then the siren went and we didn’t hear it at all.
“I heard the crowd screaming and saw everyone was jumping up and down. That feeling you get 30 seconds after the siren goes is one of those all-time great feelings.”
Carey will get credit as the match-winner for his five goals.
But, for the most valuable over the four quarters, you could not look past Riosa for his defensive work in the first three quarters and then his tap work in the last.
Mutton, Murphy and Murphy Watt were outstanding at the clearances.
So, too, was Greenhough, made available to the Warriors only because the Western Jets season had already wrapped up. And Chris Latella was a ‘rock’ in defence.
The ‘smoky’ Warriors are alive and kicking. They have the Woodsmen in their sights and can’t wait for the challenge.
“The momentum we’ll now take into the Spotswood game, you can’t understand how important it is,” Murphy said. “We’re so full of confidence at the moment.
“We’re going to get Spotty.”
