By Marcus Uhe
Kyle Stainthorpe has ensured his name will enter folklore at the Rowville Football Club following a heroic tackle in the final seconds of his side’s one-point semi-final win over Vermont on Saturday, sealing a spot in Eastern Football Netball League Premier Division grand final for the Hawks for the second successive year.
Goals to Adrian Kalcovski and Ryan Fitzpatrick saw Rowville’s 13-point lead shrink to just one in the space of two minutes as the final quarter pushed the 30-minute mark.
A scrimmage for possession on the far wing saw Vermont emerge from the mass of players with the ball, and with little time to waste, kicked long into its forward line.
Stainthorpe contested the kick to ensure another Eagles’ opponent couldn’t secure the mark, but left his direct opponent, Daniel Nielson, in the process.
The quickest to react, Nielsen gathers the ball at ground level charging towards goal, but Stainthorpe’s second effort saw him wrap-up the burly forward from behind, despite Nielson’s best attempt to shake the key defender off.
Nielsen’s handball goes to ground, failing to find a teammate, before the siren sounds at Bayswater Oval to bring the tense final to its dramatic conclusion, Rowville prevailing 13.7 85 to 13.6 84.
Tension built throughout each of the opening 24 minutes of the final term that remained goalless as Rowville clung on to its slight advantage it had worked so hard for.
Lachlan Wynd, Lachlan McDonald, Matt Davey, Mav Taylor and Kurtis Flakemore all missed shots on goal that could have made life incredibly difficult for the Eagles, having locked the ball in their half of the ground for much of the period.
It took Matthew Traynor’s first goal of the season to snap the tension in the 24th minute, finding space as the quickest back to goal after a marking contest at half-forward and having his hard-running rewarded by Kane Young, putting the Hawks 13 points ahead.
Vermont responded with the next two, catching Rowville’s defence off guard with a running goal from halfback and then surging the ball forward at a stoppage and swarming at ground level with numbers, to lay the foundation for the epic finish.
Scores were tied at quarter time before both sides kicked into gear in the second term.
Vermont threatened to break clear with the opening two goals of the quarter for a 14-point lead, having owned the first 10 minutes of the period.
But 15 minutes of dominance from the Hawks saw the advantage eviscerated, kicking the next six to lead by as many as 22 shortly before the half time break.
The brown and gold engine room of Lachlan McDonald, Lachlan Stapleton and Anthony Brolic wrestled-back the momentum in the middle of the ground, chaining with hands into space and finding targets ahead of the ball.
Wynd kicked three in the critical quarter-hour to assert his imprint on the contest, proving both too tall and too quick for his opponents, and Jai Coleclough contributed two, with the remainder of the quarter played almost entirely in the Hawks’ front half of the ground.
Vermont stemmed the bleeding with the final goal of the half to hit the long break 17 points down, before the sides traded goals to open the second half.
Flakemore’s major in the 15th minute for Rowville snapped the run of too-and-fro, and gave the Hawks a 23-point lead midway through the term.
Kalcovki responded for the Eagles before Wynd kicked his sixth to restore the buffer, but Vermont kicked the final three goals of the term to cut the margin at the three-quarter-time to just five points.
Rowville will watch on eagerly next week as the vanquished Vermont tackle Doncaster East for a place in the grand final on Saturday 16 September, with the Lions defeating Balwyn by 25 points in premier division’s other semi final on Sunday.
