Geelong Advertiser |
ST MARY’S junior Darby Hider admitted he was shaking when lining up for the winning goal in the dying seconds of the GFL’s Colts interleague match on Saturday.
After trailing the visiting Mornington Peninsula FL side from the game’s opening minutes, the GFL kicked eight of the final 11-goals of the match to end the league’s home losing streak with a 13.12 (90) to 13.10 (88) win.
GFL coach Neville Daffy couldn’t hide a smile when recalling the game’s deciding moment.
“Dave Farrell who was sitting on the bench said he (Hider) would nail this shot so I said, ‘Dave, for your sake, I certainly hope so’,” Daffy said.
“We spoke at half-time about being five goals down so we highlighted the fact we still had 45-minutes left and how there were lots of areas for improvement.
“To the boys’ credit, they showed improvement in every single one of those areas and they showed lots of character to get the win.”
This year’s Colts side featured three players with senior experience in Sam Harmer (North Shore), Alex Krajnc (St Albans) and Patrick Kelleher (St Joseph’s), but Daffy revealed his line-up lacked preparation.
“We didn’t work out the final make-up of the side until Thursday night because there were boys still in contention for Falcons footy,” he said.
The GFL medal was awarded to South Barwon junior Billy Ritchie who proved to be accurate from start to finish.
“To kick 7.2 in a game where your side win’s by two points makes it pretty clear that he was the difference,” Daffy said.
“Hopefully his performance allows him to be noticed by the recruiting group for the Falcons.”
“I was just hoping to get a kick, really. I didn’t expect to kick many goals, I just wanted to be useful in the team,” Ritchie said.
