HAVING been knocked out in the first semi-final the past two years, Colbinabbin overcame that hurdle on Sunday and in doing so, sent Huntly packing in straight sets.
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The Grasshoppers kept their Heathcote District league premiership aspirations alive with a 39-point victory over the Hawks at Elmore.
In a game where both sides struggled to make the most of their scoring opportunities as they combined for 15.33, the Grasshoppers won 10.21 (81) to 5.12 (42) against an opponent they had twice lost to during the home and away season.
“It was a really good four-quarter performance by the boys today against a team that everyone knows has been a bit of a bogey side for us for a while,” Colbinabbin coach Nick Knight said.
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“Obviously, our goalkicking wasn’t great, but we really backed ourselves in with our fitness on a hot day knowing they were coming off a fairly taxing game last week against Leitchville.”
The Grasshoppers’ off-target 10.21 featured 2.5 in the first quarter, 3.7 in the second, 3.4 in the third and 2.5 in the last.
Colbinabbin had also been inaccurate the previous week in its elimination final win over Lockington-Bamawm United with 14.18, with the Grasshoppers’ combined finals tally so far 24.39.
“The pleasing thing was we were able to get a lot of ball forward, but just didn’t take the opportunities like we wanted to,” said Knight, who was among his team’s best.
Knight praised the performance of skipper David Price for his job on Ryan Semmel, whose build-up to the game had included becoming the first player in league history to win three Cheatley medals.
“I thought Pricey was fantastic today; Patty O’Brien was really good through the middle of the ground, but it really was a full team effort of 22 contributors, which is what you need to win finals.”
Forwards Elliot Bowen and Michael Battista kicked three goals each for the Grasshoppers, who will now turn their attention to next Saturday’s preliminary final against North Bendigo at Toolleen.
As for Huntly, a season that had promised plenty when it started the year 6-0 ended in a campaign in which the Hawks lost their two finals by a combined 168 points.
“It’s obviously a tough pill to swallow, but full credit to Colbinabbin, they came to have a real crack at us and they did that,” Hawks coach Denis Grinton said.
“They used the ball a lot better and the margin could have been a lot more than it was had they kicked straight.
“I thought they were harder than us, they were a lot cleaner in general play and we just turned the footy over too many times in bad areas.”
On a day in which they were fighting for survival the Hawks were held to their lowest score of the season.
Key forward Luke Mann was Huntly’s only multiple goalkicker with two, while the Hawks named Harry Whittle their best player.
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