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GEELONG Amateur and North Geelong booked grand final spots and St Joseph’s preserved its double chance in local footy finals action on Saturday.

BFL minor premier Ammos trounced Ocean Grove by 111 points in the second semi-final at Portarlington, securing a ticket to the grand final in two weeks.

The Grubbers, who played without gun Max Rooke and were depleted by a yellow card early, will take on the winner of Sunday’s match between Torquay and Queenscliff.

North Geelong beat Bell Post Hill in the tightest battle of the afternoon.

The Magpies locked in their grand final appearance with a 15-point win over the minor premier.

Bell Post Hill will cash in its double-chance in the preliminary final next weekend against the winner of Sunday’s first semi-final between Inverleigh and East Geelong.

In the first match of the GFL finals series, St Joseph’s smashed St Mary’s by 51 points.

Joeys’ onslaught was apparently too much for the digital scoreboard at the sun-drenched West Oval, which malfunctioned in the third term, clearing the scores back to zero.

But the traditional scoreboard kept pace as St Joseph’s cruised to next weekend’s second semi-final against minor premier Leopold.

St Mary’s, however, will play the winner of Sunday’s elimination between Newtown & Chilwell and Colac.

CLASSY AMMOS CRUISE INTO GRAND FINAL

CATCH them if you can.

Geelong Amateur looks to be the unbackable BFL flag favourite after flogging Ocean Grove by 111 points.

Ammos are straight into the grand final and, if Saturday’s relentless performance was anything to go by, they will win it.

The Grubbers, playing without Max Rooke, won the possession and forward-entry statistics in the first term.

But a yellow card and striking report for Marcus Kellett just before quarter time halted their momentum.

Ammos slotted two quick goals to take the advantage into the first break and never looked back.

The minor premier slammed on 20 more goals for the afternoon, while Ocean Grove only managed four.

Jarrod Westwood finished with five goals for the victor, with support from Tim Clark (4), Damien Zaparenkov (4), Riley Ferguson (3), Baden Dodd (2) and Rowan McSparron (2).

Ocean Grove slips to the preliminary final against the winner of Sunday’s match between Torquay and Queenscliff.

But first the Grubbers need to decide whether to accept a one-match ban offered to Kellett for striking Ferguson. They have until midday Sunday to inform the league.

 

NORTH GEELONG INTO CONSECUTIVE GRAND FINALS

NORTH Geelong secured the chance to defend its 2013 premiership with a 15-point win against Bell Post Hill on Saturday.

The Magpies and Panthers played a thrilling second semi-final in brilliant sunshine at St Albans, with the lead changing several times.

But it was North Geelong, continuing its form from the qualifying final against Inverleigh last weekend, which took the first ticket to the grand final, winning 13.8 (86) to 10.11 (71).

“I’m super proud,” North coach Darren Ryan said.

“Playing Bell Post Hill, we knew it was going to be tough. The hardness and courage from our blokes was first class.

“That’s what we’ve built at the club over the last three years is depth. We’ve done that (and) we can’t be more proud of it.”

Magpie Luke Parker finished with three goals and Blake Miller two.

Panthers Joel Page and Dylan Witney contributed four each.

Bell Post Hill drops into the preliminary final against the winner of Sunday’s first semi final between Inverleigh and East Geelong.

Panthers coach Brent Grgic said his men “missed some opportunities”.

“We had some guys play some good footy,” he said.

“We had some guys come back from injuries and play some good footy so there’s some positives.

“But obviously it’d be nice to win the game.”

JOEYS FACE SELECTION HEADACHE AFTER TELLING WIN

ST JOSEPH’S selection table next week will be just has tough as it was on Saturday to choose a best player.

But that’s a good problem to have, according to Joeys coach Heath Jamieson.

After winning the qualifying final against St Mary’s by 51 points, St Joseph’s will face Leopold in the second semi-final.

“Finals footy is all about getting the 22 even contributors,” Jamieson said.

“If you can get that contribution from all of your players then you generally get a pretty good result.

“It’s a good sign when you’re looking at the board for your best players yet can’t round them down to just six.”

Ashley Hansen (4), Rhys Hultgren (2), Jonathon Casey (2) and Tom Atkins (2) were the multiple goal kickers for Joeys.

Jamieson said it would be hard to crack the senior side for the Leopold match.

“I don’t want to speculate on who’s in or out, we don’t know what’s going to happen with selection,” he said.

“But what we do know is that today’s 22 did their job for the St Joseph’s Football Club.”

Joeys’ Cameron Tudor limped off the ground late in the final quarter.

“That was just a corked bum, nothing too bad,” Jamieson said.

“I thought he did a good job, maybe not his best for the club but he’s had a great season.”

 

HULTGREN REPORTED

ST JOSEPH’S has until midday on Sunday to accept a one-match ban for Rhys Hultgren, who was yellow carded and reported in the fourth quarter for an incident with St Mary’s Mathew Hebbard on Saturday.

Joeys coach Heath Jamieson said after the game Hultgren, who kicked two goals, was known for ruffling opponents but was not a dirty player.

“I didn’t see what happened,” he said.

“The card issue will be looked at after this season but it is out of our control.

“I haven’t spoken to Rhys about it at all, I know that he can get under the skin of his opponents as a player on the field. But as a person there is no dirtiness to him.”

 

ST MARY’S TERRIBLY DISAPPOINTED

ST MARY’S will fill the stands of Sunday’s elimination final between Newtown & Chilwell and Colac in preparation for next weekend’s first semi-final.

Saints coach Bryce Vincent fears both sides could out-size his men.

“They’re probably a little bit bigger than us and they both have those big marking options up forward, something that we don’t have,” he said.

“We’ll come down and have a look at how it all pans out.

“We desperately need to hit next week full on so our recovery and rehab will be very important this week.”

Vincent said the only positive to be drawn from the qualifying final loss was that St Mary’s was involved.

“It was definitely a positive to make the finals however we’re terribly disappointed right now,” he said.

“We just allowed St Joseph’s to dictate the game and play the game on their terms.”

Vincent said youngsters Jordan Carruthers, Kyle Devlin and Zak Sherman tried hard.

“I can’t question their effort, all our boys tried their hearts out but, at the end of the day, they just weren’t good enough,” he said.

Flinn Chisholm and Romain Grenville contributed two goals each for St Mary’s.

FULL TIME SCORES

GFL: St Joseph’s 15.13 (103) defeated St Mary’s 7.10 (52)

BFL: Geelong Amateur 23.18 (156) Ocean Grove 6.9 (45)

GDFL: North Geelong 13.8 (86) defeated Bell Post Hill 10.11 (71)

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