A Grade – Kalangadoo 17.16 (118) d Hatherleigh 9.7 (61)
KALANGADOO players only have a few more days to rest their tired bodies ahead of the final match in the 2019 season of the Mid South East Football League.
The Magpies will play short-priced favourites Glencoe in the MSEFL grand final at Mount Burr on Saturday.
It follows their 57-point win over an undermanned Hatherleigh in the preliminary final at the same venue last Saturday.
With the sun shining for most of the afternoon, it was the more desperate and committed brand of football by the Magpies which has earned them the chance to win their 11th post-war A Grade premiership.
Despite pre-match speculation, neither Hatherleigh nor Kalangadoo were forced to make major changes due to injuries to their line-ups which had played earlier in the major round.
Kalangadoo coach Chris Mules was cleared fit to play, as was Hatherleigh’s Jake Wight who had been sidelined for several weeks due to a broken arm.
On the other hand, Kalangadoo’s lively small forward Michael Krieger was working interstate while a leg injury kept Hatherleigh’s Ben Parish out of the game.
Coming into the match, Kalangadoo had been the warm favourite to succeed among the “experts” in the mainstream media.
Those judgements looked mis-placed as Hatherleigh booted three of the opening four goals of the contest.
Two of them came from the boot of Brad Wight, but then misfortune struck.
Wight ran at full speed into a marking contest and suffered a re-occurrence of a hamstring strain.
He hobbled from the oval and took no further part in the match.
A mishap occurred a short time later when teammate Matt Fabris was injured and had to be taken from the oval on a stretcher.
The loss of two members of Hatherleigh’s last premiership side in 2013 upset the balance of the team.
The Magpies cut the margin back to three points at the first change and then eked out a nine-point advantage at the long break.
It all clicked into gear for Kalangadoo in the third term when it added 5.4 to a mere goal.
The sunshine made way for clouds and the lightest of drizzle and the impact of the wind was negligible.
For the third game in a row, Hatherleigh players played a poor third term.
The Magpies were obviously the fresher of the two sides having played just one game in the preceding 28 days.
There was still a chance for the Eagles to win as their three-quarter time deficit was 37 points.
However, a quick goal in the opening minute of the last term to Kalangadoo’s Billy Galpin put the result beyond doubt.
Players of the calibre of Ben Mules, Ben Gregory and Jack Casey ensured the Magpies would feature in their first grand final since 2016.
Despite competing grand finals at Millicent and Penola as well as the One Night Stand concert at Lucindale, Saturday’s crowd was still impressive.
Glencoe coach Zacc Cocks would like to have one more win in 2019 to mark a successful peak to his senior coaching career.
Cocks has already been named as the MSEFL senior coach of the year.
If successful and he gets to hold the Wilf Sprengel Shield aloft at Mount Burr on Saturday, Cocks will join a rare group of country league coaches who have won both a Mail Medal and a premiership pennant.
Cocks, his brains trust and his players were interested onlookers on Saturday and they also cheered on the Glencoe A Grade netballers in their successful quest for a berth in the grand final
The South Eastern Times will publish a feature on Thursday which will cover the four football grades and seven netball grades of the Mid South East.
