By Matt Hewson
St Mary’s were crowned GFNL premiers on Saturday after defeating Leopold 13.13 (91) to 6.10 (46).
Still the reigning premiers from their 2019 victory, the last year a GFNL grand final was held, St Mary’s to a stranglehold on the game early and gave Leopold few chances to wrest back control.
The victors kicked five goals with the wind in the first quarter, leading 5.4 (34) to 1.1 (7) at the quarter-time break, and managed to restrict the Lions to just one more goal when it was their chance with the wind advantage, leading by 30 points at half time.
A four-goal third quarter all but sealed the game, as St Mary’s took a 40-point advantage into the final term, which proved too much for Leopold .
Damian McMahon, who played on the half-back flank and on the wing for St Mary’s, was named best on ground, with 19 disposals, 15 kicks, five marks and eight contested possessions.
Joe Maishman and Trent McMullan were also instrumental for the premiers, contributing three goals each to St Mary’s tally, while Zak Sherman led his side in disposals with 18 kicks and eight handballs.
Lions ruckman Trent West was best on ground for his side, while vice-captain Thomas Gordon led Leopold for possessions, with 20 kicks and five handballs.
St Mary’s coach Glenn Keast said the entire club was thrilled to add another premiership after two years without a GFNL grand final.
“It was fantastic for the boys to get the win,” Keast said.
“With the couple of years of COVID and that transpired, it’s been a long time coming, and it’s great to join the dots from 2019 through to 2022.
“We finished the season on top and went through the second semi-final with a good win, so you want to make sure you tick all the boxes with training and keeping the intensity up after a couple of weeks off.
“But in many ways, with the COVID period and stopping and starting, every time we’ve asked our boys to be ready to play they’ve been very good like that.”
Keast congratulated Leopold on an excellent season and said he and his players were wary of underestimating the Lions.
“Buddha and the guys out at Leopold have done a good job,” he said.
“Given what we did in 2019, we know how hard it is to come from an elimination final. And credit to them, they knocked a few good sides out along the way.
“We were confident our best was going to be good enough, but we knew we were playing pretty good opposition.”
