Eagles into preliminary final

SFL Season 2015
Finals Week 2 reviewed by Ben Harrison 

Second Semi Final at Abbotsfield Park
Claremont 18.15 (123) d New Norfolk 7.5 (47) 
THE Magpies continued their dominance of the Eagles in SFL season 2015 in the Second Semi-Final to progress directly to the Grand Final following a 76 point victory at Abbotsfield Park on Saturday. The Magpies will now have two weeks to prepare for their premiership opponent as they await the outcome of the Preliminary Final clash between New Norfolk and Huonville Lions at KGV this Sunday.

The Second Semi-Final did not prove to be the free flowing contest that was possibly expected in the first half as Claremont led by 16 points at quarter time and extended that lead to 32 points by half time where to that stage the Eagles had only managed two goals to half time. But from the long break the Eagles showed more results from their forward 50 entries and returned 4.2 for the third quarter, but so did the Magpies delivering the first of two six goal quarters in succession for the second half to put the result beyond doubt.

The Claremont big guns delivered on the scoreboard and headed a list of 11 different goal kickers as Nathan Brown finished with four goals and Sean Salter kicked three majors and will need two goals in the Grand Final to finish the season with a century of goals for the season. Tyron Rainbird and Bryan Chaplin both kicked two goals for New Norfolk in a unusually low return for the Eagles.

Daniel Fewkes was best on ground for Claremont with great support from Nathan Griffith and Simon Ladic whilst as usual Rohan Heron led the way in defence for the Eagles and he had good support from Mark Horne.

Claremont ensured that SFL Grand Final day is sure to be a massive one for their club as the reserves were victorious by 81 points over New Norfolk and so were the Colts as they defeated Huonville Lions by 64 points to both advance to their respective Grand Finals and join their senior teammates.

First Semi Final at Anzac Park
Huonville 18.18 (126) d Lindisfarne 18.17 (125) 
LINDISFARNE would have gone into its home final feeling confident of a positive result if it could get its free running game going and kick accurately. Following a 27-point lead at quarter-time kicking with the wind and extending the lead to 35 points at half time the Two Blues would have definitely felt they had control of the game, particularly as the Lions' usually accurate forward line was way off target having only scored five goals from 16 scoring shots.

The lead opened up even more in the third quarter as the Two Blues once again kicked with the strong wind and opened up a match winning lead of 44 points at the final break. Only those in the huddle would know what Huonville coach Tim Lamprill said to his players before the last quarter, but whatever were the words they worked. The strong wind became a Huonville hurricane as the Lions after kicking six goals in six minutes finished the quarter running down the Two Blues lead to secure the win by the smallest of margins, kicking 10 goals in the final quarter after having only managed eight in the previous three quarters.

Huonville coach Tim Lamprill led the scoring with six goals and Brad Sullivan also contributed four goals. Lindisfarne’s Brody Phillips finished the season with five goals in this great final and Matthew Howell again finished his work off well slotting through three majors. Huonville was best served by Michael Paul, Brendon Lorkin, Jordan Lovell and Coach Lamprill. Lindisfarne had Matt Phillips, Justin Myers and Adam Hutchinson led the way early on in the game for the Two Blues.

Lindisfarne will be disappointed to have gone out of the 2015 SFL finals series in straight sets after being the only team in 2015 to have the better of the all conquering Claremont Magpies during the season. On the other hand the Huonville Lions are now only one step away from a fairytale finish to their season after being on the bottom of the ladder after four rounds at the start of the season.

In the reserves Huonville went down to Brighton in a big loss by 98 points and they also lost their final against Claremont  in the Colts by 64 points to set up a Preliminary final clash against Sorell following their tight three point victory over Brighton.