The Standard | LUKE Crane was on the verge of withdrawing from Hampden’s squad six days out from the clash with Murray.
A lingering groin injury had forced the Portland coach to miss his club’s round three game against Camperdown and after battling through the Tigers’ round five match, he doubted he would be right for the rigors of an interleague contest.
But the 29-year-old produced a stunning first-half performance as a small forward on Saturday, breaking the game open with four goals.
“It was touch and go,” Crane said about his recovery.
“I pulled up well after last week’s game so I decided to put my hand up.”
Admitting to being “a bit sore”, he was rested for much of the final term. But the former Magarey medallist in the South Australian National Football League had left his mark.
After a shaky start to the match when the Bottle Greens were outplayed by Murray, it was Crane and fellow small forward James Gow, of Koroit, who provided a spark.
Gow kicked his side’s first goal of the opening quarter 16 minutes in and then 70 seconds later, Crane, sprinting with the flight of the ball, launched himself into the air and took a courageous mark in the goal square despite the presence of a bigger opponent. The resulting goal put Hampden in front for the first time — a lead it would never relinquish.
With a four-point lead at quarter-time, Crane kick-started the Bottle Greens’ charge with a brilliant rover’s goal four minutes into the second quarter. He swept on a loose ball, burnt off an opponent and from deep in the forward pocket converted with a right-foot banana kick. After teammate Brody Mahoney drilled a goal on the run, Crane then took a finger-tip mark overhead before goaling as Hampden raced to a 24-point lead.
Murray’s danger man Damian Cupido snapped a bullocking goal at the 14-minute mark to cut the margin to 20 points before Crane then produced another classy goal, pouncing on a spilt mark in the goal square.
Coach Chris McLaren was delighted with Crane’s four goals, three in the second term as the home side kicked 7.4 to 2.1.
“He looked like he was going to kick an absolute bag,” McLaren said.
“He had four at half-time, he was untouchable, so clean and he was sharing the footy. He would have had 10 score involvements, he was unbelievable.”
Crane, in his first representative match since helping the SANFL defeat the VFL by a big margin in 2008, thrived on the big stage.
“It’s fantastic to play with the better players,” he said.
“It’s easy as a crumbing forward. You can read blokes a bit better.”
He said he knew his side needed a lift.
“They were on top of us a bit,” he said.
“It was the midfield who rallied and the defence was super.
“If it was a club game I probably would have missed them (goals).”