South Reserves’ fourth quarter blitz

An eleventh straight AFL Broken Hill Reserves premiership for South was achieved on the weekend as the side stormed to a 28-point victory against North on Grand Final Day at Jubilee Oval.

Fletcher Kolinac kicked the opening goal of the game for the Bulldogs and started a shootout between the two sides, trading goals as the scores were level going into the first break. Neither side let up in the second quarter and save for inaccurate kicking from South that could have pushed the margin out further, the game was shaping up to be a classic finish as both teams went into the rooms.

North pegged back the deficit and hit the lead after kicking the first two goals of the third quarter. The back-and-forth nature of the game saw the lead change multiple times. The Bulldogs started the final quarter the same as every other to grow their lead before the Roos – who were again at times inaccurate – piled on six unanswered goals to ace the game.

“It’s an honour. It’s an experience. I didn’t think I’d get it, but seeing all the boys out there, it was a really good game,” South captain, Liam Farquhar, told us after the match.

“Hats off to North, they gave it to us all day and they’ve had a good year and are just getting better and better. It was good for the boys to dig deep and show us what we’re really made of so my hat goes off to the boys and I couldn’t be the captain I am without all of them.”

South’s Jackson Bray was judged best on ground and told us post-game he was over the moon, adding, “North really brought it to us – have all year, really – and I’m pretty stoked we walked away with the choccies at the end of the day”.

Tobias Hack was the game’s leading goalkicker with seven to his name in a losing effort as North had a further four individual goalkickers. For South, Matthew Reavill kicked five goals, and was backed up by Nate Sparrow (three) and Liam Farquhar (two).

Goals: Tobias Hack (North) 7, Matthew Reavill (South) 5, Nate Sparrow (South) 3, Liam Farquhar (South) 2