GSFL 2023: Costly final round win as Mt Barker sweat on trio of injuries from their thumping of minor premiers

A red-hot Mt Barker will take winning momentum into the finals after thumping minor premiers Albany by 43 points at Retravision Stadium on Saturday but the result came at a significant cost. Star defender Darcy Wallinger suffered what appears to be a serious knee injury and had to be carried from the ground while David Stone and Brent Parsons failed to finish the game with hamstring injuries. Bulls coach Brad Hook said they would await scans to determine the extent of Wallinger’s injury but it wasn’t looking good ahead of Sunday’s elimination final against Royals. Stone and Parsons are likely to face fitness tests to prove their availability for the first week of finals. In the final round of the Great Southern Football League regular season, the Bulls led at every change and handed the Sharks their third loss of the season. Last year’s Kleemann medallist Zach Jackson was brilliant in the result, dominating from start to finish as he ensured the Bulls enter the finals having won their last four matches. The Bulls kicked the first three goals of the game to set the tone and held a 12-point advantage at the first change. In a high-scoring second term the Sharks played far better and were rewarded with five goals but three majors from sharpshooter Ben Kirkwood and three from the boot of evergreen full-forward Sam Lehmann gave the visitors a 17-point buffer at half-time. Jackson won a stack of possessions in the third term and his side added four goals to stretch the margin to 31 points by the final change. The Sharks kicked the first major of the final term to give themselves a glimmer of hope, but like they had done all day, the Bulls kept finding answers. Kirkwood kicked his fifth, Scott Price added a third major, while two from Camball McMahon, a second to Daniel Patching and a major from Brandon Ugle sealed the 20.9 (129) to 13.8 (86) result. Hook said his side was hitting form at the right time of the year. “We’ve won our last four, on a bit of a run and we want to go into finals with winning form,” he said. “I think that’s our first game that we’ve won all four quarters so that is a huge positive. “We’ve finished strong in games but we haven’t started well. Wallinger went down in the final term and the Bulls had already lost Stone and Parsons earlier in the day. “Darcy with the knee at the end, it doesn’t really look good,” Hook said. “I don’t think he’ll be available next week whatever happens but we’ll try and get him an MRI and see what happens. “Stoney and BP went down in the first half, they didn’t do them but they were there so we just brought them off.” Zach Jackson was clearly best-afield in the big win while Wallinger and Mitch Jackson were strong in the back half and Kirkwood played his best senior game with five goals. Will Jones played an important role after Stone went down and Nigel Penny provided great drive while Lehmann finished with four majors. The Bulls have Joel Gray, Dylan Gowdie and Clayton Wood to return to their side for the finals. The Sharks clearly missed the impact of Kane Pinney and their defence was under pressure throughout the afternoon. Cameron Jones was busy in the defeat while Taj Williams (three goals), Lewis Bosch and Harvey Taylor tried valiantly. Brett Peake kicked four goals and was locked in an enthralling battle with Kobi Williams and fellow forward Jayden Zilm marked strongly to finish with two majors. Sharks ruckman Stewart Davies was not sighted after half-time with a shoulder injury. “They were very good and we were very ordinary,” Sharks coach Jamie Ramm said. “I’m not too focused on it, I’m more focused on next week. “I’m fully aware we will be a different side next week.” The Sharks are expecting to regain Pinney, forwards Harry Hordacre and Connor McCandless and key midfielder Fraser Eaton for their qualifying final showdown with Railways on Saturday.