The Geelong Football League are the new WorkSafe Country Champions after overcoming the Goulburn Valley league at Simonds Stadium today.
Geelong held firm in the final term to defeat the three-time reigning champions 15.24 (114) to 11.15 (81).
After a start dominated by Geelong, the 1v2 clash lived up to its hype with the game still up for grabs late into the final term.
But with the home crowd behind them, Geelong put the foot down in the dying minutes to run out 33-point winners.
James Linton (2 goals) was best-afield, with Clinton Wells (3), Jai Sheehan (2) and former Geelong champion Matthew Scarlett other key contributors in the win.
For the Goulburn Valley league, Paul Newman kicked five goals to be his side's best, while Daniel Lewis was critical to the Purples forcing their way back into the match.
Geelong will now meet the Mornington Peninsula Nepean league's Peninsula Division to defend its No.1 ranking in 2013.
The Peninsula league surprised many by accounting for the highly fancied Ovens and Murray league with relative ease in the battle for second spot, winning 15.10 (100) to 7.13 (55).
Under clear skies at Visy Park in Melbourne, Peninsula controlled the contest to slowly but surely overpower the visitors.
Tough small forward Shane McDonald booted three goals and found plenty of the footy moving up the ground, while centre half forward Brayden Irving bagged two to be awarded best-on-ground honours.
Brent Bowden was also lively up forward with two goals, while at full back Kallum Searle was superb.
Small forwards Craig Ednie and Kristan Height were both brilliant in patches for Ovens and Murray but midfielder Jarrod Thompson was arguably their only four-quarter performer.
Peninsula coach Stephen Ryan said it was extremely rewarding to get the win considering the Peninusla Division was competing for the first time as a single entity after playing as a combined side of the MPFNL's three divisions in recent years.
"A lot of people probably thought we weren't going to be as strong with the three teams, but the boys are a really close unit and got over the line today," Ryan said.
"We had 16 boys playing their first game of interleague and also 16 blokes that are under the age of 26."
In other games, Ballarat edged out Bendigo to move into fourth spot, while the Sunraysia league left Warrnambool for the long drive back to Mildura after copping a 94-point hiding from Hampden.
The Mallee league continued its stellar interleague run with a big win over the Central Murray League thanks to eight goals from Damian Cupido. The Mallee men have now won three representative league games on the trot over close rivals to clinch bragging rights in the state's northwest.
The Murray league won back some respect after being thrashed by Sunraysia last year with a 64-point triumph over the Bellarine league, while the Colac and District league moved off the bottom of the rankings ladder thanks to a 13-point win over the Warrnambool and District league.
Article first appeared www.vcfl.com.au Saturday, May 25, 2013
