By Marcus Uhe
Travis Callahan likely won’t recall his act of tremendous bravery that played a key role in his Narre Warren side maintaining its unbeaten run in 2024, but it’s a moment his teammates will likely never forget.
With Woori Yallock ahead by two points in time-on in the top of the table Outer East Football Netball Premier Division football clash, a wayward inboard kick from Tiger Jason Lindgren is intercepted by Riley Siwes on the wing, who wastes no time in sending the ball forward.
The kick goes over the intended target in Will Howe’s head, battling two in the air as he did all afternoon, but Callahan is the first to reach the ball, and handballs it to a waiting Sam Toner, closest to goal.
Moments after the effort, he’s collected by Woori Yallock’s Robert Young in a heavy head-high collision that left him concussed, as Toner bounds into an open goal for his seventh, to put his side ahead.
A lengthy delay ensues as the medical staff attends to Callahan after the incident, carried from the field on a stretcher in a world of pain.
As he’s attended to in the rooms, the Tigers have just minutes remaining to make one last push to retake the lead, and snatch a remarkable four points at Kalora Park.
A boundary throw-in in the Magpies’ forward 50 sees Sam Johnson run down an opponent as he attempts to exit the back 50.
Johnson is awarded a free kick, and the siren sounds as he composes himself for the shot.
Narre Warren is a club steeped in success, and this win, given the adversity faced and the injury carnage earlier in the afternoon, will go down in folklore for all those in attendance.
There was a finals-like tension in the final term as the Tigers looked like doing what no side has achieved in nearly three years, in knocking off the Magpies on their home turf.
There was no line for the canteen or the outdoor bar in the final quarter, with spectators transfixed on the drama in the middle.
An eerie hush blanketed the venue, and the three-quarter-time huddles swelled like bees to a honey pot.
The Magpies were without Tom Toner due to suspension, lost Trent Papworth in the first half, Kurt Mutimer and Daniel Toner in the second, and finished with no rotations on the bench as a result of the Callahan collision.
A heart and soul player at the Magpies, he was taken to hospital after the game feeling sorry and sore, but having played a significant role in a famous win.
Callahan started the season in the reserves, playing three of his first four games there after an injury-interrupted preseason, despite playing nearly every game at senior level in 2023.
On Saturday, he played one of his best games for the season, as part of a rebounding, intercepting and dynamic halfback line for the Magpies that was vital to their scoring ability.
He, Papworth, Tom Russell, Joel Zietsman and Josh West squeezed and suffocated the life out of the Tigers in the second term, when the Magpies played true Narre Warren football.
When Papworth reinjured his calf and his fellow half backs were neutralised in the third term, it was no surprise to see the Tigers mount a fight back and send shockwaves through the Magpies’ camp.
Narre Warren coach Steven Kidd said he was released from hospital on Sunday, cleared of any structural damage.
“He’s a tough kid; he’s had a few knocks but he just seems to just straight back up,” Kidd said.
“If it was ever going to happen to anyone and they’ll be okay, it’s him out of (anyone in) the team.
“He’s real quiet, he doesn’t talk much at all but everyone respects that about him and he just goes about his work, he’s a workman-like team player.
“We’re happy that he’s going to be okay.
“He’ll miss his three weeks, hopefully it’s just a three week concussion protocol (lay off).”
The frightening collision and traumatic aftermath rightly overshadowed the ending of an extraordinary game of football that was up for grabs right up until it wasn’t.
Somehow these Magpies just keep finding ways to win, surmounting yet another challenge to record a tenth consecutive scalp, and stamp their authority on premiership favouritism.
Siwes opened the scoring in the eighth minute, a goal coming against the run of play after early Woori Yallock dominance in possession.
Toner added his first after a slow play down the outer wing and had another after a Russell intercept mark, sandwiching Woori Yallock’s first of the afternoon through Jordan Williams.
The second term saw the Magpies’ intercept game come to the fore.
Twice they scored from intercept marks in the back half, making the Tigers pay for inefficient ball use.
Siwes got the ball rolling again with the first goal of the term, rewarded for a run-down tackle after repeat stoppages in the Narre Warren forward 50.
The next two Magpies goals came courtesy of intercepts, from Hayden Johnson and Zietsman.
Johnson went back with the flight and was advanced 25 metres for an opponent not standing the mark correctly, and had Mutimer flying past when he reached his new mark for a handball receive.
Mutimer pierced the forward 50 and found Howe on a long lead, immediately after the Siwes goal, to shoot quickly to a 25 point lead.
Josh Smith answered back for the Tigers, before Zietsman and Hamish West combined to find Sam Toner in his own at the top of the square, making it three goals in the first half for the young star.
Smith added another for the Tigers before half time to close the gap to 19 points, as both sides hit the sheds after their lowest-scoring first halves of the season.
The third term commenced with an arm-wrestle, before the Tigers put their foot on the gas.
It started with a free kick in the forward 50 against the Magpies for deliberate out of bounds that gave the visitors the crucial first goal of term and cut the lead to 13.
They then moved the ball the length of the ground and took the advantage from another free kick that left the Magpies stunned, reducing the lead to seven.
The Magpies needed a reply, and it came from Sam Toner, sensing the moment with maturity beyond his years.
The Magpies took the ball from the back half to the forward 50, and all Toner needed was a sniff to calm concerned Magpies heads with his fourth.
Angst returned soon after, with a four goal Woori Yallock blitz to close the third term, and turn for home with a 13-point lead.
Two goals from stoppage, a symbolic collision between Johnson and Josh West at half back that led to another and Jacob Mutimer being run down from behind turned the contest on its head.
The Magpies’ half backs, so critical to the advantage their side held in the opening half, were now getting in one-another’s way as the pressure piled on.
Not since Wandin burst their bubble on grand final day last year had Narre Warren been swamped by pressure quite like this, and the result on that occasion threatened to repeat itself.
The three-quarter-time break came at the ideal time for the Magpies to regroup, but there was no sense of panic in the black and white camp.
After all, they simply don’t lost at home.
A preliminary final-like energy enveloped the huddle, with Kidd’s message punctuated by rallying cries of encouragement from the hungry supporter base.
Anticipation built with every step as spectators made their way off the ground; the Magpies aren’t challenged too often, and when they are it makes for a great spectacle.
Winning comprehensively most weeks is great for the ladder position and percentage, but the question remain as to whether it builds resilience in the long term.
Hamish West missed Narre Warren’s first sight on goal, but a forced turnover resulted in Sam Toner making amends moments later with a long set shot that reduced the margin to seven points.
Composure from Siwes found Toner unmarked in the pocket in front of the netball courts, for what was his toughest chance of the afternoon.
He walked to the top of his mark, turned inward and calmly snapped on his foot, a high, swinging ball that gained more and more gravitas as it hung in the air.
It appeared the kick had drifted across the face, and a silence descended across the ground in anticipation the goal umpire’s call.
When he walked to the centre of the goalmouth and saluted with both arms, the crowd erupted, and Toner’s star soared to new heights.
With eight minutes and stoppage time remaining, the Magpies were within a kick of lead.
Their desperation went into overdrive as the game shifted into a new speed.
Risky kicks were now common-place; ground balls became life or death; losing was simply not an option.
A turnover at half back from the Magpies threatened to undo all their hard work, as Taylor Gibson out-wrestled Zietsman to take a strong contested mark inside 50.
The Narre Warren skipper and Gibson had played a classic one-on-one tussle all afternoon, and this moment looked decisive in halting the Magpies’ charge.
His set shot missed poorly, however, and kept the door ajar.
Minutes later, Toner saw the gap and took a mile, as Narre Warren’s urgency paid off with the aforementioned game winning goal that left Callahan concussed.
It’s now 10 on the trot for the Magpies, having survived their biggest challenge of the year, a game that will dictate plenty when they likely face each other next in the finals.
Toner’s seven majors takes him to 42 for the season and outright first on the leading goal kicker table, as he mounts a case for being one of the competition’s best players.
Hayden Dwyer and Zach Monkhorst’s head-to-head battle in the ruck was a highlight all afternoon, with Kidd declaring his man took the points in a contest that pitted the two best rucks in the competition against one-another.
Zietsman, meanwhile, kept Gibson to a single goal, his first game in Woori Yallock colours without multiple in 2024.
