Mt Barker celebrate Peter Taylor’s retirement with hard-fought win over Albany in final round

Mt Barker captain and stalwart midfielder Peter Taylor capped off a stellar career with a hard-fought 25-point win over Albany at Centennial Stadium on Sunday.

Taylor, above, announced his retirement after the game and was chaired from the ground through a guard of honour of Sharks players and Bulls supporters.

The Bulls great has played more than 200 league games for the club and has been a part of their two grand finals appearances in the past 15 years.

Taylor’s terrific character was lauded by Bulls coach Brad Hook.

“He is going to be a huge loss for the team and club,” Hook said.

“I have been coaching for three years and I made sure he was captain for those seasons.

“He is an absolute legend, legend of a footballer and twice as better bloke.

“He is a pretty quiet guy but leads by example on and off the field.”

The Bulls captain was swung forward in the final term and kicked a goal in the 11.10 (76) to 7.9 (51) result, which brought the Bulls’ season to a close having missed the top four.

The Bulls led by 38 points going into the last term, but the Sharks produced a spirited final term, booting five goals to three, but it wasn’t enough to spoil the celebrations.

The Sharks booted the first goal of the last term before the Bulls extended the margin to a game-high 42 points after kicking the next two.

Sharks youngster Max Baker kicked two goals to reduce the margin before Taylor capped his stellar time in Bulls colours with a goal.

The Bulls led by 14 points at the long break before the margin was extended to 38 points after four unanswered goals in the third term from the Bulls.

Steven Scott booted 5.3 in the win while Taylor was excellent in his final game along with Bryce Blaszkow in the midfield.

Lee Pavlovich was solid as always in defence and Sam Lehmann was also a strong contributor.

Sharks youngster Max Baker finished the game with five goals, Kyle Ryder and Dylan Thomas were solid across the four quarters and Flynn Breuker worked hard on a wing.

“Our third quarter let us down but I’m overall happy with the performance,” Sharks coach Jamie Ramm said.

“The boys tried their hardest till the end and it was a positive to finish the game off strong.”