(Photo: Mandy Brooke-Barnes)
Tallon Smith
The Hay Magpies have secured their first finals victory in Group 20 First Grade since joining the competition in 2007 courtesy of a 20-18 win over the Yanco-Wamoon Hawks in the Elimination Final at the Hay Park Oval on Saturday.
After a slow start saw the Hawks take a 10-0 lead over the home side, the Magpies fought back to take the lead and ward off a late challenge from Yanco to move through to the second week of the finals.
Hay coach Chris Stewart said that it was a huge relief to the team to secure the club’s maiden finals victory in the competition.
“It was massive to get that monkey off the back and get that first finals win in Group 20,” he said.
“We probably did feel a little bit of pressure going into it, having it at home and sort of being such a long wait.
“We definitely didn’t play our best game of footy either, but we got it done.”
The win came on a big day for Hay’s sporting community, as the Hay Lions clinched the final Golden Rivers Aussie Rules flag over Ultima before that competition merges into the Central Murray League next year.
Despite not usually being an issue, the Saturday final posed a challenge for the Magpies, who were without codehopping stars Hugh Crighton and Brad Pocock for the crucial clash with the Hawks.
Stewart said that despite not being ideal, the club did prepare for the situation once they realised it was a realistic chance a few weeks ago.
“When we started to get to the point where we were looking like we were going to be playing finals, we had earmarked it a couple of weeks out that the Aussie rules grand final was going to be on the Saturday that the elimination final was going to be on,” he said.
“We kind of knew a couple of weeks in advance we were going to be without Hugh Crichton and Brad Pocock, [which] hasn’t been an issue because obviously the league’s on Sunday and the rules is on Saturday.
“It did hurt us a lot because Hugh Crighton’s our fullback and he’s been there for a large part of the year, although Kynan [Headon] stepped up and did a great job, so we were blessed there, but Brad was a big loss.”
Heading into the match, Stewart said he didn’t expect to face the Hawks, who needed to beat Waratahs and rely on Black and Whites losing to Leeton in the final round, but he admitted they did give the Magpies a scare on Sunday.
“We were a bit surprised that they ended up in fifth, that’s not taking anything away from them as a side, but just going into the weekend we thought it was sort of Black and Whites’ for the taking,” he said.
“I think Yanco has had a lot of injuries and they were at full strength on Saturday, which was only the second time apart from when they beat the Waratahs the week before, so we knew it was going to be a tough game, especially with us having a few out.
“Right at the end, they had a chance to almost win it, but a forward pass [brought] them unstuck.
‘It was a frantic finish, but we got there, [there were] definitely nerves in the last two minutes.”
Next up for the Magpies is a clash with the Leeton Greenies, who fell to the Griffith Waratah Tigers 30-20 in the Qualifying Final at the Exies Oval on Sunday.
When asked what either outcome would mean from the upcoming match, Stewart was quite clear in his assessment of what success and failure is in season 2025.
“The position we’re in now, I think if we were to lose it would be a failure,” he said.
“We’re looking like being at full strength on Saturday touch wood for the first time all year, [and] I honestly think we can stick it to anyone.
“Leeton are a great side, it probably doesn’t get much tougher than this weekend, going to Leeton to play them.
“They have been a little bit up and down, but they’re a bloody solid side, they’ll never beat themselves, and Shannon really leads them around the park really well.
“They haven’t got the bigger side in the world, but they hook in and they don’t go away, so we know it’s going to be a really really tough game for us, but we’re ready to go as well.”
Meanwhile, an Ulu Akolo hat-trick in his second game back from injury lifted Waratahs to their 10-point win over the Leeton Greenies.
The six tries to four victory means Waratahs will face DPC for a spot in the Grand Final on Sunday, with the match likely to be played at Darlington Point.
Meanwhile, Leeton will host Hay in the Minor Semi on Saturday.
