GSFL 2024: Railways out-muscle rivals Royals, Albany win milestone game for captain and Mt Barker bounce back

Railways blew the race for a top-two finish wide open, notching a hard-fought 12-point win over arch rivals Royals in round 12 of the Great Southern Football League on Saturday. As ladder leaders Albany easily accounted for North Albany and Mt Barker cruised to a big home win over Denmark-Walpole, the game of the round at Tigerland went in favour of the home side. The result has the Tigers within four points of the second-placed Lions with three rounds left in the regular season, setting up a fascinating final few games. The Lions’ five-game winning streak was ended by an in-form Tigers side who kicked five goals to three in the second half to down their crosstown opponents, 10.5 (65) to 7.11 (53). The Lions were dealt an early blow with defender Quinn Bird a late omission, forcing youngster Lachlan Steytler to double up from the reserves. In the first 10 minutes the home side clawed out an early lead with three goals, before Lions star Ryan Lazar singlehandedly scraped back the advantage with back-to-back majors. The second term was played largely in the midfield with Stephen Beal and vice-captain Joel Flick regaining the lead for the Lions before a scuffle in the middle of the ground had the crowd beeping their horns and resulted in a 50m penalty that gave Lions a shot on goal but it was wasted. The Tigers managed to get themselves back in front at half-time with a one-point advantage. After the long break the Tigers broke the game open, holding the Lions goalless while they kicked three majors of their own. Unable to put on any scoreboard pressure in the face of a resolute Tigers defence, the Lions discipline slipped, allowing Railways several easy shots on goal. Milan Jaggi showed off his agility, popping up all over the field and majors from Joel Want, Jaxon Lombardini and Tom Geddes had the Tigers 20 points ahead at the last change. Nic Ashford produced a stunning long-distance goal, followed immediately by a clever Darcy Reader conversion as the Lions stormed back into the game. A bit of soccer was played in the goal square by the Tigers before Mohit Jaggi sliced through and shuffled it through the posts. At the 12-minute mark the teams locked horns in a stoppage-heavy squabble, which was only broken up as vice-captain Kane Shepherd took matters into his own hands with a well-set-up goal. The Lions lost ruckman Beal to a leg injury late in the contest and despite a last-ditch goal from Chandler Askevold-McDonald, the Lions couldn’t reel in the home side in the end. Ryley Valli continued his superb season while Shephard (two goals), Milan Jaggi and Beau Ewen were also prolific. Mohit Jaggi and Want both kicked two majors in the low-scoring affair. Ryan Lazar was the only multiple goalscorer for the Lions while teammates Beal, Declan McNamara, Michael McGlade and Zak Mola were all influential. Meanwhile at Retravision Stadium, the Sharks overcame an early challenge from the Kangas to finish commanding 113-point winners to remain a game clear on top of the ladder. The Kangas were up for the fight early on, kicking the first goal of the game and trailing by four points at quarter-time. But a clinical nine-goal-to-one second term broke the game open as the Sharks’ classy midfield went to work. With Kaleb Germain and Brock Anning running rampant through the middle of the ground, the Sharks surged clear by 59 points at the long break. It got worse for the visitors who were held scoreless in a dour third term and then conceded six majors in the final stanza to suffer another heavy defeat, 4.7 (31) to 20.24 (144). The result was a special one for captain Tait McLean who was chaired from the ground after celebrating his 100th league game in winning fashion, having led his club to a maiden premiership last year. The Sharks’ spread of contributors was again impressive, debutant Jesse Owens showing he is capable at senior level and second-gamer Clay Harrington again prominent. Teenager Germain, who has overcome an ankle injury, was clearly best on ground while up forward Brett Peake had an entertaining tussle with Mitch Woods and finished with five goals. Still missing star Isaac Baum (concussion) and young pair Aiden Clark and Harvey Taylor who played colts for Claremont, the Sharks simply had winners everywhere. Lewis Bosch played a strong role up forward and kicked three goals, Robbie Lee (two goals) was again damaging in between the arcs, Kane Pinney was the general in defence and Bryce Blaszkow won a stack of possessions. Jyrin Woods and Nick Barrow tried valiantly in the midfield for the Kangas and Kobi Keen played one of his best games of the season while Woods did his best to limit the impact of Peake. The Bulls quickly got back to winning ways, thumping the Magpies by 122 points at Sounness Park, after their disappointing loss to Lions last week. Ashley Wallam was the star with 10 goals but he received a red card late in the game for a dangerous tackle that is likely to see him suspended. Wallam has six majors by half-time as the Bulls opened up a 44-point advantage but the damage was done in the third. Ten unanswered goals in the third quarter all but ended the contest, as the home side held a 104-point buffer at the last change. Wallam finished with 10 majors before he was sent off for the dangerous tackle on Noah Madaffari. Daniel Patching (three goals) was also superb for the Bulls along with Darcy Wallinger and Jared Ballard in the 23.14 (152) to 4.6 (30) triumph. The Magpies started well, trailing by only 10 points at quarter-time and they held the home side to three majors in the final term, but it was all too late. Tyler Stone booted three goals to be one of the visitors’ best contributors while Brad Keast, Ben Olden and Simon Barker (one) were also solid.