Casey Cardinia Football League review – preliminary final

By Mark Gullick
NARRE Warren secured its seventh grand final appearance of the last decade with a hard-fought 19-point win over Berwick at Toomuc Reserve on Sunday.
The win wasn’t comprehensive, but the Magpies are through to the big dance, and recent history has shown that when they make it – they usually win it.
Berwick kicked with the negligible wind in the opening term and enjoyed the majority of play in its forward half, but struggled to penetrate the Magpies’ defence.
Narre Warrenkicked the only goal of the first term, at the 15-minute mark, which was set up from a brave mark by youngster Ben King across the half-back line.
Both teams missed chances in the frantic opening term.
Berwick restricted Narre Warren in the first 10 minutes of the opening term.
The Wickers were under constant siege, and cleared most attacks, but couldn’t move the ball past the centreline, owing to the Magpies’ wall of players.
Aaron McIver slid through a goal from the pocket, which sparked the Magpies, and further majors to Daniel Field and another McIver goal, gave Narre Warren a handy break.
The Magpies lost Lee Boyle to a serious knee injury after he landed awkwardly in a marking contest.
Field quickly added another Magpies goal, which sparked Berwick into action.
Nathan Waite kicked Berwick’s first goal, at the 27-minute mark, and was promptly followed by a left-foot long goal by youngster Chris McKay to reduce the Wickers’ half-time deficit to three goals.
Narre Warren kicked the opening goal of the third term, before Berwick booted the next three in a run of inspired football.
The Wickers looked the better team, but couldn’t capitalise on their lively rush, as the Magpie defence held firm.
A late Andrew Hunter goal gave Narre Warren a 13-point lead.
Dylan Quirk kicked an important Magpies goal two minutes into the last term, but over the next 15 minutes, Narre Warren couldn’t put Berwick away.
Chance after chance went begging as the Magpies missed the big sticks or made poor choices.
Goals to Andrew Tuck and Vergim Faik dragged Berwick to within 11 points, but the Magpies controlled the contest.
Jackson Parker goaled after the final siren to confirm the Magpies win.
“We were always going to have to play well to beat them,” Narre Warren coach Chris Toner said.
“They touched us up a couple of weeks ago and I suppose you sometimes learn more from your losses than your wins.”
Narre Warren’s defence was superbly led by courageous youngster Ben King, who recklessly and continuously threw his body into dangerous situations.
“His smother in the second quarter was really important,” Toner said.
“He runs back with the flight of the play. A lot of people don’t do that a whole lot in their footy career, but he does it week in, week out.”
Toner said Berwick were a tough opponent.
“We spoke to the guys and told them, if it’s second playing third in the preliminary final, they’re going to have periods of playing better than us,” he said.
“We were able to have more better periods and for longer than they did.”
Clay Peresso was hard at the ball, Josh Tonna and Colin McNamara worked hard around the ground, Aaron McIver (three goals) was busy and emerging tall defender Adam Giobbi was strong.
Berwick was dogged, especially its back six, but its lack of polish led to its downfall.
The Wickers continually turned the ball over, which placed its backline under unnecessary pressure.
“Most of the guys are pretty young and lack finals experience,” Berwick coach Dean Rice said.
“When pressure is put on us, we lack that composure to hit targets and make right decisions, and that comes with experience.”
Berwick severely threatened Narre Warren during the third term; its only period of dominance.
“We don’t do it consistently,” Rice said.
“We do it when we don’t have pressure on us. When teams come at us, we don’t have that experience or maturity in regards to having players on the ground that can control the momentum and give us that composure when we need it.”
At the start of the year, Rice said it would take time for his players to learn his method.
“We’ve come a long way since we first started,” he said.
“I think next year will be a consolidation of what we’ve done. We’ll look at getting in three or four senior experienced guys into our team that can complement our young players.”
Rice believes the club has a bright future.
“We won a final for the first time in 12 years, made the preliminary final for the first time in 12 years and the reserves made the finals for the first time in 10 years,” he said.
“The under 18s will play in the grand final. The club’s heading in the right direction and it’s just a matter of time until we have success.”
Berwick’s best players were youngsters McKay and Kristian Meredith in defensive roles and Luke Sheppard through the midfield.
Veteran on-ballers Tuck, Jason Rahilly and Brett Robinson worked tirelessly.