KOONDROOK-Barham will play in their first finals series since 2019 after thrashing Swan Hill by 117 points on Saturday.
The Raiders came into the final round of the home-and-away season knowing they needed a percentage boosting win over the Swans, as well as requiring Woorinen to beat Tooleybuc-Manangatang.
In the end, both results went their way early in the afternoon, with the anxious wait predicted by many avoided with both games over at half-time.
The 25.20 (170) to 7.11 (53) victory was the Raiders ninth win of the season, with Koondrook-Barham coach Marcus Demaria relieved to have seen his team qualify for this Sunday’s elimination final against NNW United.
“We crunched the numbers at half-time and had a look at the scores, we realised we were in a pretty good position in our game and Tooleybuc not registering a goal at half-time made it look like it was going to happen pretty comfortably,” Demaria said.
“It’s exciting, the club hasn’t been there (in finals) for a long time, it’s been six years, so to get through is exciting.
“We let the boys enjoy themselves on Saturday night, we just said let’s enjoy it for the next few hours and enjoy the season, but we’ve still got work ahead of us.
“I suppose straight away, as a coach your mind starts thinking about next week and perhaps players with injuries or player availability, all that sort of stuff, and what the team might look and then of course the opposition.”
With this Sunday front of mind, there will be an anxious wait for several of the Raiders stars, with Pat Goble (leg), Jacob Barrington (finger) and Reagan Hamilton (ankle) all ending Saturday’s match on the bench.
Star onballer Benji Neal also finished the game on the sidelines, with Demaria declaring that Neal was resting for the final term with a view to next weekend.
While the Koondrook-Barham will be sweating on the availability of their trio of local heroes, Demaria was nonetheless pleased with his team’s forward connection ahead of their knockout final against the Demons.
“We had a slightly different plan and we made a few tweaks to our offence which worked well,” Demaria said.
“I thought we executed very well and it was some of the best footy that we sort of played all year.
“We had a bit cleaner ball movement and our connection was there, which we sort of hadn’t seen since the first part of the season really.”
Neal was among the Raiders better players, along with Jack Thrum, Nathan O’Toole, Ryan Bassett and Jack Shannon, with Roy George also having an impact in his return to the side with five goals and a strong midfield display.
Key defender Tom Corridan was named best for the Swans in their final match of the season, with Cooper Angus, Lachlan Vrolijks, Luke Phelan, Xavier Moloney and Kallen Heslop.
The end of a difficult campaign would have come as a relief for the Swan Hill faithful, who finished the season with just one win from their 16 games and anchored to the bottom of the ladder.
Saturday was yet another tough game for Swan Hill coach Michael Herlihy, who was still pleased by several positives with regard to Saturday’s loss and their season as a whole.
“We were outclassed and overwhelmed in the first half,” Herlihy said.
“We played much better in the second half, but it was too little, too late.
“It was a tough season, but we got some games into the future with all of the colts boys playing senior footy.
“Unfortunately we couldn’t afford any injuries this year and we got plenty, I think we had over 100 players play in our seniors and reserves teams throughout the season.”
SCORES
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Final Score |
| Koondrook-Barham | 6.5 | 16.10 | 20.12 | 25.20 | 170 |
| Swan Hill | 1.4 | 1.5 | 3.9 | 7.11 | 53 |
VOTES
3 – Jack Thrum (Koondrook-Barham)
2 – Nathan O’Toole (Koondrook-Barham)
1 – Roy George (Koondrook-Barham)
