By Marcus Uhe
Tom Miller found himself at the right place at ‘exactly’ the right time.
With a miscommunication between Wandin defenders forcing a scramble in the defensive 50, Hamish West’s attempted mark was brought to ground.
Awaiting a handball off the deck was Miller, the vice-captain whose position was under question after a syndesmosis injury sustained late in the season.
As the clock ticked down, he turned side-on to the goal face, snapped with his right foot, and watched with delight as the ball rolled through the unguarded goal square to put his side back in front by three points in the turbulent second semi-final, with a spot in the grand final at stake.
The hours in the pool, the weeks spent in a moon boot, the multiple expert opinions sought on his best recovery process and the diligence shown to get back on the park, was all worth it.
But with just 21 minutes played in the final term, the game was far from won.
In unfamiliar territory with a game up for grabs in the final minutes, the Magpies’ late-game situational training kicked into gear, finding uncontested marks to keep the precious seconds ticking away.
This Wandin side, however, won’t go away easily.
Through a chain of handballs on the wing, a rushed kick in the 28th minute saw them penetrate the Magpies’ defences for a final forward thrust.
Where Miller held his composure, Damien Furey, arguably Wandin’s best for the afternoon, fumbled and lost his feet on the slippery surface with the goals beckoning.
Swamped by relieved Narre Warren defenders, a series of stoppages deep in the forward pocket took more precious seconds away.
A rushed kick out of the backline was swallowed by Jordan Spencer 60 metres from goal, but the siren sounded as he pushed back off his mark.
Magpies flocked and hugged, before sprinting to the goal line to prevent Spencer’s kick from going through.
The attempted torpedo was unsuccessful, however, meaning Narre Warren was home.
The relief on the faces of those in black and white was evident for all to see, deep breaths sucking away the oxygen in an already packed change rooms post-game.
For Shane Dwyer, the comfort blended with pride at his side’s ability to respond to adversity, having fallen behind and facing a Bulldogs onslaught in the final quarter.
“We were nine points down in the last quarter and we could have rolled-over,” the victorious coach said.
“To dig deep and get the win, is pretty good.
“We practice that, we do scenario footy almost every week at training.
“Three minutes to play, we do it against the twos, we’re either three points down or nine points down.
“It was good to see them get back into it and do it the way that they did.”
The bitter breeze at Officer brought with it a calming hush before the opening bounce, as silence descended across the outer in anticipation of a battle rife with expectations, connotations and stars on every line.
Wandin wasted no time in getting on the scoreboard, Aaron Mullett goaling within 30 seconds to instantly spark life into the contest.
The Magpies steadied and kicked the next two with their backs providing great drive, before Wandin responded with two of its own, Clint Johnson and Joel Garner keeping the Bulldogs in the contest against the flow of play.
The siren blew with three goals apiece in the opening quarter, both outfits making uncharacteristic errors as the height of the contest intensified, words exchanged as they separated to their respective huddles.
The strengthening wind blew Narre Warren’s way after the first change, further enhancing the steely forward press as Wandin struggled to move the ball.
Its midfielders found one-another with ease in the clinches, matching their Magpie counterparts at stoppages, but came uncharacteristically unstuck when ball hit boot, lacking the necessary penetration.
For all Narre Warren’s control, however, the only scoreboard pressure came via a goal from Tom Toner, for just a seven-point lead.
Todd Garner, Chayce Black and Leiwyn Jones withstood countless entries, and finally received reward through the crafty Patrick Hodgett’s navigation of the wind at the other end to tie the scores.
Weight of numbers eventually tolled for the Magpies, as Lachlan Benson’s first secured an eight-point lead at the long break.
With Wandin slow to get into its groove after the interval, goals to West and Toner saw the Magpies stretch the lead to a game-high 22.
Shallow entries, perhaps a product of playing and training on the smaller playing surface at their home ground, were punished on the counter-attack by composed ball users in the Narre Warren forward 50, West and Riley Siwes the chief protagonists.
Wandin needed a response, and found one through Mullett, his cat-like reflexes on display against a diligent Cameron Miller, close to goal, reviving his side’s heartbeat after a Todd Garner rebound.
It was a brief period of respite for the Bulldogs, snowed-under by Magpies entries but holding firm in the eye of the storm.
West and Siwes could have put the game almost beyond reach with set shots, but both failed to score in moments of reprieve for the Bulldogs as momentum began to shift once more.
When Furey nailed a set shot from deep in the pocket in the shadows of three-quarter-time, a 10-point buffer at the final break set the table for an anxious final term.
Wandin coach Nick Adam told his group he wanted a fight at the final break, and his side threw the first punch, Hodgett kicking his second to cut the lead to three.
Stoppage superiority and surge football gave Johnson his second, and Wandin the lead, the first since late in the first quarter, momentum proudly wearing red white and blue with Narre Warren appearing to tire.
When Johnson kicked his third just minutes later to put his side nine points up, many thought a boil-over was set to unfold.
Narre Warren simply don’t do close games; this season’s average winning margin was 74 points for a percentage of 227.5.
Not since the 2022 grand final had a game involving the black and white been this in-dispute this late, and the Wandin surge was looking irrepressible, having held the Magpies goalless for close to half an hour.
A Jesse Davies goal broke the drought in the seventeenth minute, before the final 10 minutes of drama took hold, in which the Magpies simply found a way, Miller’s goal a checkmate in the epic chess battle showcasing the best of what the division has to offer.
“It comes down to training; we train for it knowing that, in finals, it can happen and they executed really well,” Dwyer said.
“We haven’t kicked a score that low for a while, but that’s finals footy.
“When you’re down and you’ve got to score, it becomes more chaotic and high risk.
“You get it forward and hope something goes your way, which it does.”
West was fantastic for Narre Warren, finishing with three goals, having found a role for himself among the higher profile names such as Will Howe and Jake Richardson, who were rendered ineffective by their Bulldog opponents in Todd Garner and Jones, respectively, for much of the afternoon.
The versatile Peter Gentile was a welcome addition, having been relieved of VFL requirements, while Cameron Miller held Mullett in-check when he was playing deep-forward.
“We didn’t kick the footy very well all day and they got out of our forward line all day pretty well,” Dwyer said.
“We knew they were trying to get over the back and whatnot, and our backs were really good, but we got a break, we might have got 22 points up at one stage, and then we took the foot off.
“They got us on the outside a bit, which we spoke about straight after the game with our midfielders.
“It is something to learn from, we got dragged in a little bit, whereas they had Garner in there and they feed it out to (Patrick) Bruzzese and (Cody) Hirst, and away they go.
“They’re a very good side.
“You can’t afford to have a lapse or anything like that because they’ve got a stacked midfield and forward line, and they’ll hurt you.”
Joel Garner’s and Furey’s influence around stoppage was immense for the Bulldogs, while Black and John Ladner’s drive out of the back half was important all day.
The Magpies’ path to the grand final secure, a hot day awaits at Yarra Junction next week when Wandin tackle Woori Yallock.
