“We got the win on the weekend by a few points. The nerves were pretty frayed after that. It was tense.
These were the words Steve May told to the Yass Valley Times after his Yass Roos got over the top of ANU Griffins by just three points to secure their Grand Final spot against the very strong Woden Blues.
“It was just such a tight tussle the whole game. It was one goal each in the first quarter and then we got away. We sort of took control in the second quarter and we were looking good, got away to about a 15 point lead, and then gave away three late goals in the second quarter. So they got their noses in front at halftime and had all the momentum going to the main break. So that was frustrating.
“Then in third quarter, they started to get right on top and they got away to about, I think halfway through the quarter, they were 13 points up at one stage, so we were staring down the barrel a little bit. And then we fought back two late goals in the third quarter, so that got us back to within a goal at threequarter time.
And then we started the last quarter really well, kicked an early goal and we hit the front early in the quarter, then midway through the quarter, extended the lead to 10 points. It was starting to feel pretty good, but there was still about 10 minutes to go at this point. So we just had to hang on and then with about six minutes to go, they kicked a miracle goal from the boundary line, goal of the year type stuff and that was hard to take. That got us back to four points, and we had about five minutes on the clock to hold on, and they just had all the forward territory in the last five minutes, and at one stage we won a free kick. One of our boys played on instead of us just using up the clock and gave it straight back to them. So they’ve launched inside 50 again. We’ve got about a minute on the clock at this point and one of our guys takes a Leo Barry type mark in the dying seconds.
“In 2005 Leo Barry saved the game for the Swans. Well, this was Leo Lahey from the Yass Roos, saving the day, taking the mark, intercept mark, and then he cleared it to the wing. It got punched over the boundary and I looked at my watch and I could see 10 seconds left.
And that was the only point of the entire match where I was able to relax and I let out a big bellow right at that point. The siren went a few seconds later and we’d hung on by three points. Unbelievable game.
“It was very scary, but it was also very exciting after the game. It was a great feeling to get through, to get over the line. We had to do it tough. We lost our co-captain Sam Williams 10 minutes into the game with a dislocated shoulder. He popped his shoulder out and had to go off to hospital, got the shoulder put back in and he’ll be racing the clock. Hopefully there’s no serious damage, but he’s hoping to be available again this week.
“It is a big week for the Club.
Yass are under no illusion that Woden will be tough but they can do the job on the day.
“We are grand final bound now, straight in and we have got Woden Blues. They are a powerhouse club of the competition. They’ve won the last two premierships. They’re going for a three-peat. They’ve gone back to back. They’ve been undefeated this season. They had a really comfortable win on the weekend, so they will go in as raging hot favourites, no doubt.”
“We’ve got a lot of belief within our group, we got within a point of them earlier in the year and we feel like we’re going to be peaking at the right time. So bring it on.”
“They have got a really strong midfield but pretty even. There’s no sort of individual stars in there. They’re just a very strong group, collectively.”
“I guess the ruckman is a star of the competition. He won the Norm Smith in the grand final last year. He’s really hard to stop, and their full forward is the leading goal kicker of the competition. He’s kicked over 50 goals this year. We are going to have to try and stop him if we are to be a chance.”
“It is a team of two very contrasting styles. They’re experienced, a lot older. A lot bigger probably, physically, but we’ve got youth on our side. We’ve got speed, skill, endurance. Two very contrasting styles, two very contrasting teams in terms of physical characteristics as well. It’s going to be a warm day out there on Saturday. Survival of the fittest. Let’s see. Let’s go.”
“The game is on at 1:45pm on Saturday afternoon at EPC Solar Park, which is Philip Oval, the home of AFL footy in Canberra. It is also going to be live streamed I believe, on a company called All In Sports, if people can’t get out there, but we’d love to have as many Yass folk as we can out there because we’re playing on Woden’s home ground.
“They will get a fair bit of support, but we’re hoping half the township of Yass is out there supporting us as well.
“Although it is live streamed, the boys would like you to get out and cheer them on if you can. So.
It’s a doubleheader. Murrumbateman are in their grand final, the curtain raiser, and then we follow them.”
“The Roos have won two premierships. Both of those in the lower division, 2008, and I actually was playing in that game against Yass. I was playing for the mighty Gungahlin Jets back then and we lost to the Yass Roos in the grand final in 2008.”
It looks like being a great day for Aussie Rules, get out and support the Roos!
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