By Bruno Visentini
The Battle of Bell St went down to the wire on Saturday in a match that saw the lead change 11 times. The contest between two sides with a healthy local rivalry was volatile with neither side looking like a certainty to win until the final moments, but it was the Bullants who claimed the victory, downing the Lions by 7 points at Piranha Park.
The match also marked the annual Vicki Cleary day, honouring the late sister of club legend Phil Cleary who was murdered by her ex-partner in 1987 among the many women killed by men, as well as raising awareness about the extent of violence against women. Following some words from Phil Cleary and a moment of silence, Coburg won the coin toss and chose to kick towards the Bell St end of the ground.
The first quarter was an even contest which saw the Bullants draw first blood, but each side went goal-for-goal to start the quarter. Jhye Baddeley-Kelly and Max Thompson both goaled and the scores sat at 12 apiece before the Lions broke free with a goal to Aaron Clarke. The Lions’ lead peaked at 9 points in the first quarter but a fast end-to-end play gave Tyson Young his second goal of the term. Young’s goal was particularly frustrating for Coburg given how late in the term it was and it trimmed the margin to a narrow 3 points at the first break.
The Bullants didn’t take long to flip their deficit into a lead kicking a goal after little more than a minute, but Kyle Weightman was able to kick a goal of his own to put the Burgers back in front. The match, however, would shift back into goal-for-goal territory with Aaron Clarke kicking his second goal to provide some relief for the goals that the Bullants were adding to their own tally.
A string of three behinds showed that the Bullants were beginning to get a hold on the game, but Coburg’s Jhye Baddeley-Kelly converted a set shot to keep the Lions just only 3 points, only for Ben Nikolovski of the Bullants to kick his first and keep the Bullants more than a goal ahead. At half time the Burgers trailed 39 to 48 and needed to act fast to remain in the contest.
Things began to get worse for Coburg, conceding the first goal of the quarter through Cam Wild and four more behinds the Bullants sat 17 points up. The four behinds scored by the Bullants, however, would become worrying for them as Coburg saw a great opportunity and grabbed it with both hands. Aaron Clarke and Will Bella kicked their third and first goals respectively and Coburg were within touching distance.
Enter Jhye Baddeley-Kelly who marked the ball in a tight spot that’d be tricky for anyone to kick from, and with the opportunity to give the Lions a hard-fought lead, he did just that. At 3 quarter time Coburg were up by 3 points, a 12 point turnaround from the half time margin and the final quarter was set up to be a classic.
The final quarter got underway with Kyle Weightman converting a set shot but Brandon Ryan of the Bullants kicked one of his own shortly after to undo the hard work of the Lions. This pattern would emerge again as Max Thompson kicked his second only for Jean-Luc Velissaris to kick an impressive goal in congestion. A rushed behind soon after would tie the scores and Nathan Honey found himself with a chance to put the Bullants back in front following a series of Coburg errors. He kicked a point but it was enough to give his side the lead.
Sensing urgency, Coburg were able to get the ball down the ground rapidly and despite all the pressure from the Bullants defenders, Nathan Boucher managed to soccer the ball through to give Coburg the lead by 5 points. Less than 2 minutes later however, the Bullants would earn a 50 metre penalty that drew the ire of the Lions fans in attendance as it placed Perry Lewis-Smith in the goal square to kick the go-ahead goal.
Needing some magic to turn their fortune around, Coburg’s final thrust at goal came via Aaron Clarke. Far from home on the run, he was tackled while kicking and could only manage to trickle the ball through for a point to tie the game at 80 apiece. Perry Lewis-Smith once again gave his side the lead off the back of some crafty footy from the Bullants, though only a behind. With the margin sitting at one point, whoever kicked the next goal would almost certainly win the game and unfortunately for the Lions, Jean-Luc Velissaris kicked a sealer to win it for the Bullants by 7 points.
The final score was Coburg 12.8 (80) to Northern Bullants 12.15 (87).
Next week Coburg travel up to Queensland to take on the Brisbane Lions at Brighton Homes Arena and hopefully show Brisbane who the real Lions of the VFL are. Go Burgers!
