PYRAMID Hill will go into this weekend’s second semi-final against undefeated Marong confident of causing an upset, after winning their way through with a dominant 69-point win over Bears Lagoon-Serpentine in Saturday’s qualifying final.
After a slow start, conceding three of the first four goals, the Bulldogs quickly found their feet, booting 15 of the next 18 to run away comfortable 16.15 (111) to 6.6 (42) winners.
The win sets up a rematch of last year’s second semi-final, which Marong won by 58 points.
Despite the Panthers going undefeated so far this year, including a 42-point and 120-point win over the Bulldogs, Pyramid Hill coach Nathan Fitzpatrick was confident his team can take it up to reigning premiers this Saturday.
“We had one reasonable game against them and one trainwreck in the middle of the season, but the positive thing is we’ve started to play some of our best footy over the last three weeks,” Fitzpatrick said.
“We’re starting to get some troops back, which is good.
“We’ll potentially have just one or two out next week, so hopefully we’re getting it together at the right time and we can go into this Saturday’s game and take it up to them.”
It looked like a very different result could have been on the cards after the opening minutes however, with the Bears appearing to hold the advantage in the middle through the opening passages as Harry Gadsden found plenty of the football, giving James Rippingale plenty of looks on his way to kicking four goals.
But just as they looked likely to run away with the match, the Bulldogs pulled the game back to be played on their terms, with Brodie Carroll and ruckman Lachlan Sidebottom starting to get their hands on the ball.
“The first quarter was pretty hot and they smashed us in the centre clearances and got some very good looks at goal,” Fitzpatrick said.
“After that, our midfielders tidied up and did a really good job in there and gave us some clean breaks ourselves.
“I felt we were able to control the game for the rest of the day and, after conceding four goals in the first quarter, to concede only two for the rest of the match was a good effort.
“We didn’t do much wrong, but the first few goals they kicked came straight from the centre bounce and it’s pretty hard to defend when its coming in that quick, but once we had a bit more pressure up the ground, we were able to take control.”
Key defender Tom McGregor continued his strong form since returning from injury, while Gavin James and Jesse Sheahan were also among the better players.
Bears Lagoon-Serpentine coach Justin Laird will be hoping for similarly strong performances from key players Orion Downing, Bailey Harrison and Harry and Charlie Gadsden when they play Bridgewater in this weekend’s knockout first semi-final.
The Mean Machine advanced by ended Inglewood’s finals run with a 22-point win in Sunday’s elimination final.
Bridgewater’s 13.8 (86) to 9.10 (64) victory will fill them with confidence, having come through the elimination final 12 months ago to reach the grand final.
Inglewood, however, will be left to mull over what could have been, after missing several opportunities in the final quarter when trailing by just nine points at three-quarter time.
Playing in their first finals series in 20 years, Inglewood kicked 1.6 in the final term against their long-time rivals.
Bridgewater captain Josh Martyn was a welcome return, the key forward kicking five goals to lead his side, along with Harry Donegan, Charlton Hindle and Lachlan Cohen.
Charlie Ingham, Thomas Kennedy and Sam Polack were the best for Inglewood.
