For the second year in a row St Joseph’s and St Mary’s have produced a Big Freeze classic.
Since the Big Freeze Geelong event was moved from Drysdale to Geelong in 2024, Joeys defeated St Mary’s by a point last year and produced a comeback for the ages on Sunday to scrape home by five points.
Trailing by 26 points at the last break, St Joseph’s booted six goals to one in the final term to win 16.15(111) to 16.10(106).
These two sides bring out the best in each other.
“I think we’re both pretty competitive and very proud clubs,” St Joseph’s coach Ron Watt said.
“I think there’s a real rivalry that’s been formed over quite a few years now. So it’s not something new, but it’s something that’s, I think, enhanced and continued on, particularly playing on big days such as Big Freeze day that helps to create a real atmosphere as well.”
It took Joeys six minutes to register a goal in the final term, but Charlie Lang kicked truly for St Mary’s soon after.
With 15 minutes elapsed in the quarter, St Mary’s led by 25 points and that’s when the comeback truly began.
Hunter Lewis put Joeys in front in the 26th minute they hung on for a memorable victory.
Watt said there was no magic wand waved at his three-quarter time speech.
“We just started playing properly,” he said.
“We had three or four positional moves and we kept our rotations fairly tight so we had fresh players coming all the time through the middle and it took us a while to break them.
“We were patient with what we were doing. It just felt that if we did things well enough for long enough, we’d give ourselves a chance.”
Many pundits expected St Mary’s to plummet down the ladder after the loss of several key playmakers, but that hasn’t been the case and Watt isn’t surprised.
“They have lost some good players, but they’ve been able to replace them or give opportunities to young players,” he said.
“I think they’re as good as they were last year as far as list-wise goes.”
Despite the win and remaining unbeaten, Watt said there was obviously room for improvement.
“Probably just not watching the ball as much as they do,” he said.
“I think the temptation is that you watch the ball and you think you know where it’s going, but you’re not actually watching the game. So just pulling ourselves back a little bit from watching to actually using some initiatives in what they need to do next.”
Joeys take on Newtown & Chilwell this Sunday.
The two sides have already played each other. A quirk in the fixture meant they played their round 15 match before the season proper.
St Joseph’s won by 35 points, but the Eagles are a better side now.
“I think we probably had our list just a little bit more in place,” Watt said.
“I think we were ready to go and I think they’ve, in the last couple of months, assembled a list that is really hard to beat. A couple of their young boys have really come on.
“And (we’re) looking forward to a really good contest because we’ll have a good crowd here (Herne Hill Reserve). We’ll have a 10-year premiership reunion so there’ll be a lot of people here celebrating.”
