GSFL 2024: Royals celebrate big day in style, Mt Barker snatch McLean Park thriller and Albany win by 100-plus

Royals and Mt Barker moved a game clear of Railways, who were the big losers in round seven of the Great Southern Football League, while Albany recorded their third triple-figure win of the season on Saturday. In the clash under lights at Retravision Stadium, the Tigers kicked four of the first six goals but the Lions were far superior in the second half as they powered to a 37-point win. The Lions were plagued by inaccuracy in their fifth victory of the season — key forward Hamish McMorran finished with five behinds — but they held the Tigers goalless after half-time to assert their authority. On a day when the club was celebrating 20 and 30-year premiership reunions, the Lions roared to an emphatic 9.13 (67) to 4.6 (30) result. Ruckman Stephen Beal was the dominant player in the game, booting two first-half goals to help give the Lions a four-point lead at the long break. He smashed the Tigers at stoppages and won plenty of his own ball around the ground to be clearly best-afield. Ryan Lazar was superb across half-back and then thrived in his shift forward, kicking four majors in the last half, while Ben Altus, Declan McNamara and Teague Valli also shone. There was a special moment when youngster Cleve Humphries Jnr slotted the first goal of the fourth term in his league debut, with teammates coming from everywhere to congratulate the son of a gun. After Seb Stanton snapped out of a pack to start the second term, goals to Tigers’ 100-gamer Joel Want and then Mohit Jaggi handed the visitors the lead. McMorran then kicked three consecutive behinds, the last thumping into the post, before Want jailed his second to push the visitors’ margin out to eight points. However, late majors to Jaiden Mole and Beal handed the Lions the control back by half-time. The Lions held their rivals scoreless in the third to open up a 21-point buffer and they were not troubled from there on. It was a miserable second half by the Tigers, who had few winners on the night. The Tigers were without player-coach Bodhi Stubber and Kane Shephard and injured defender Mitch Green stepped in as interim coach. Want was lively with 2.2 in his milestone game and Beau Ewen was outstanding in the back half in his new role, while Jayden Scott and Milan Jaggi won plenty of the ball. Earlier in the day at Collingwood Park, the Sharks overcame a sluggish start to record successive triple-digit margin victories with a dominant 106-point win over North Albany. After being met by a smothering Kangas side in the opening half, an entirely new Sharks team emerged after the long break booting 17 goals to two, barely missing a shot to register a punishing 21.11 (155) to 7.7 (49) win. It was the first time the Sharks have converted more goals than behinds since round one, with inaccuracy being a thorn in the side of their near-perfect start to the season. Sean Plaisted trophy leader Brett Peake had a field day forward of centre, booting eight goals, with three coming in the third, while star forward Isaac Baum was a headache for the Kangas’ backline with four. Sharks’ clearance machine and reigning club best and fairest Bryce Blaszkow was enormous through the engine room, finding plenty of the ball, starting a lot of their attack and drifting forward for three majors. Leading by 16 points at half-time, the reigning premiers flexed their muscles using all corners of their opponents’ ground to move the ball with speed and precision and enable their deep-lying forwards to go to work. They booted seven goals to Kangas’ one, with Peake adding three and Baum two as the visitors extended their lead to 53 points heading into the last stanza. With the result firmly in the visitors’ clutches, the ladder leaders piled on 10.2, seemingly quashing any doubts about their goalkicking form from the past five weeks which featured scores of 9.19, 16.18 and 21.21. Brock Anning (one goal) was sensational on the wing and Bailey Taylor’s (two) versatility in the air and at ground level provided an X-factor the Kangas could not match. 2023 Kleemann medallist Robbie Lee was shown a yellow card in the second quarter for intentional high contact to the face of a Kangas player. The Kangas were hot early, built on ferocity around the contest and relentless tackle pressure in the midfield led by Jyrin Woods, captain Nick Barrow and ruck Seth Hambley. The hosts were prolific at stoppages, with their clearance game a focal point in the opening 25 minutes and entered quarter-time as rightful leaders with a three-point buffer. After conceding the first two of the game, the Kangas’ midfield dominance began to wear down the Sharks’ defences and competitive duo Jyrin Woods and Kobi Keen each kicked a goal from the midfield in the opening term. Key forward Regan Christensen filled the void left by the absent Graham Ross well and finished with two first-half goals, while Dawid Spangenberg (two goals) was huge in the front half for the home side. The game of the round played out at McLean Park on Saturday as the Bulls escaped with a narrow win over Denmark-Walpole for the second time this year. The Bulls were lucky to hold on by a single point at home in round two and this time around they had to dig deep in the final term to come from behind and get four vital premiership points. The Magpies led by seven points at three-quarter-time in front of a vocal home crowd, but the Bulls found a way and kicked five majors in the pulsating final stanza to snatch a thrilling three-point triumph. Momentum was with the home side at the last change, with returning star Shayne Zanetti and midfield bull Tyler Stone leading the charge after a sluggish start from their side. The Bulls were quick to hit the front in the final term that had three lead changes, as Daniel Patching who played solely as a deep forward kicked two goals inside seven minutes to get the visitors back in front. Zach Jackson then kicked a superb goal on the run as the Bulls went 11 points up at the eight-minute mark. The Magpies fought back as Zanetti, in his first game for the club since 2021, booted his sixth and then just a minute later Reagan Hutchinson bullocked his way through a pack and goaled to snatch back the lead. In the frantic few minutes that followed Patching had a third to get the Bulls back in front and then Zanetti cruelly went down with a shoulder injury. Zach Jackson gave away a 50m penalty for knocking the ball out of Hutchinson’s hands after a mark and then received a second yellow card for abusive language, ending his day. Bulls’ youngster Jared Ballard kicked a terrific goal to hand his side a 12-point buffer and three more behinds for the visitors appeared to have the contest sewn up. Tyler Stone, who willed himself all day, bobbed up with a clutch goal in the 24th minute from on the 50m arc and less than 90 seconds later Charlie Benson slammed home his third to reduce the deficit to three points and bring the crowd alive. The Magpies went forward again from the centre, but the Bulls clung on gamely to notch up a 14.11 (95) to 15.2 (92) win. Zach Jackson and Patching combined to kick eight of the 14 goals in the absence of Brodie Duffield and the injured Sam Lehmann, while Ballard kicked two vital majors. Brandon Ugle gave great drive from the middle, Tyreice Brown and Darcy Wallinger were influential and Clayton Wood was impressive in defence for the winners. Zach Jackson and Magpie’ Revis Alone were both sent off in the third term for wrestling. Zanetti was outstanding in his first game back, booting six goals in a best-on-ground display and his injury at the 17-minute mark was telling. Tyler Stone, Noah Madaffari and Brad Keast were huge around the stoppages and up forward Charlie Benson (three goals) showed show great signs. The Magpies were slow to start the contest as the Bulls kicked 4.6 in a dominant opening term. Two majors each from Zanetti and Benson and singles to Alone and Gus Brampton helped get the home side within four points at the long break and they won the third, kicking four goals to two, but could not finish the job and are still chasing their first win of 2024.