By Nick Creely
Pakenham had belief, and that’s powerful enough as it is.
The Lions have built a reputation of themselves this season – they are incredible hard to pull away from even with all the momentum, never shirk away from the contest, and seemingly have class on every line.
It’s what makes them such a tantalising prospect in the Division 1 premiership race.
These characteristics came to the fore deep into the last quarter when both the Lions and its opposition, Officer, were level in the 24th minute.
Surging back from a deficit of almost 19 points at the start of the final quarter in wet-weather conditions on enemy territory, with a vocal home crowd letting them know about it, the Lions’ character and will took over.
In the opening three quarters, the Kangaroos got the jump to take in a 14-point lead at quarter time and leave the visitors scoreless, before the Lions roared back to take the lead at half-time.
But Doug Koop’s side – coming off a loss to Doveton the week prior – once again pushed ahead with an excellent three-goal third term, and holding the Lions scoreless for a second time in the match.
But with insurmountable momentum and energy in an enthralling final 30 minutes, the Lions ran in waves, and were inspired by the deeds of many, but namely former AFL player and Essendon VFL-listed Josh Tynan.
Known primarily as a defender, Tynan (three goals) took a star turn up forward, kicking two crunch goals in the final term in what was a dynamic, best afield performance.
He was a difficult match-up for the Kangaroos’ back six to deal with as his aerial and ground dominance stands taller than most opponents.
His first of the last was simply sublime, taking a mark on the lead, before turning his man inside out, playing on and strolling into goal. It was the goal that brought the margin to under a kick, and the Lions never looked back.
With Stephen Morey and Jack Kowarzik lifting a cog further up the ground, and Liam Tyrrell absolutely brilliant in the crunch moments, the Lions stormed home to snare the final three goals of the match, with a ripper from Kane Tyrrell out of the congestion a particular highlight, while fittingly, Tynan kicked the sealer with only seconds to play.
It was a classic finish, and an important occasion, with Josh Tynan’s efforts – particularly in the crunch moments in the dying stages – not lost on coach Ash Green.
And while they hope to have him all season, Green understands the business, and that dominant form at local level could bring about a VFL recall.
“I know Joshy quite well, I coached him at Gippy Power and Vic Country, and he’s a quality kid, we’re fortunate to have him,” he said.
“We understand that he’s aligned with Essendon, and any day they can take him – he’s been fantastic around our footy club, it’s important to have a high-profile person around your club, and to his credit, he’s fitted in really well.
“He’s been fantastic, but we certainly can’t rely on him as well.”
While thrilled to walk away with the four-points in a game described by Green as having a finals like atmosphere, the start of matches is a slight concern for him as his side continues to build towards the pointy end of the season.
“It’s been funny, our last three to four weeks we’ve been really slow to start, and the conditions weren’t ideal, but they were for both teams,” he said.
“To Officer’s credit, they didn’t give up all day, and we got a break in the early stages of the last quarter and it gave us a bit of momentum, and we worked hard all game, and luckily got over the line in the end.”
With some crucial players set to return to the side in the coming weeks, Green said the most pleasing aspect was the chance to once again expose some of the club’s most promising youngsters to the rigours of senior footy.
“The game on the weekend, from a pressure point of view, I’d like to think our younger guys got a lot out of it, and going forward we’ll have that same situation again,” he said.
“We’ve still got a few important guys out injured, James Harrison, Dermott Yawney, Zac Stewart was a late withdrawal, but we’ve given exposure to some guys that probably didn’t think they’d be playing senior footy at this stage of the year.
“But the guys understand that if you play good footy in the seconds and 18s, the opportunities are still there to play senior footy, and as we go towards the end of the year, we want to make sure everyone is up and about at our footy club and playing good football, and push for a game.”
The Kangaroos were well served once again by emerging star Tyler Clark, who continued to take the game on, Jake Ingaliso’s impressive season continued, while ruckman Sean Roach did a power of work around the ground.
On a sour note, the Kangaroos lost star skipper Matthew Clarke to injury in the opening moments.
It’s yet another important day for the Pakenham Football Club on Saturday, with a monster clash against Doveton to come at home, coinciding with a premiership reunion for the 1989 and 2009 premiership sides.
Green said his group is looking forward to putting on a show against a quality opposition in front of many of the club’s former heroes.
“They’re great days – we want to put on a good display for those people, and we got the win last time against them, but we’re under no illusions, it’ll be a tough game,” he said.
“We’ll need to be playing well to beat them, that’s for sure.”
The fifth-placed Officer – now with two consecutive losses next to its name – need to bounce back this Saturday, but it won’t be easy, with a trip to Monbulk to take on the undefeated Hawks ahead of them.
OFFICER 2.2 3.4 6.6 6.10 (46)
PAKENHAM 0.0 4.2 4.2 9.5 (59)
OFFICER
GOALS: B. Moloney 2, T. Clark, B. O”Loughlin, W. Hanson, B. Tivendale
BEST: J. Ingaliso, T. Clark, D. Ellett, S. Roach, D. Reilly, C. Power
PAKENHAM
GOALS: J. Tynan 3, J. Kowarzik 2, D. Coinu, K. Tyrrell, J. Bradley, J. Thompson
BEST: J. Tynan, S. Morey, J. Kowarzik, L. Tyrrell, J. Thompson, T. Guan
