Carisbrook served a reminder to the competition that they could yet be a dangerous floater outside the top four after taking a 12-point victory over Trentham at Trentham Reserve.
It was very much the best victory of the season for the Redbacks, who now go into the bye looking to refresh ahead of what will be an elimination final against Maldon in two weeks’ time.
It was a very spirited and high-scoring start to the game, with seven goals kicked in the first term, but the Redbacks had the better of things as they managed four goals to three to lead by three points at the first change.
The high-scoring nature of the game continued in the second quarter, but it was Carisbrook who were gradually getting on top. They were able to kick six goals for the quarter, while Trentham added three, and it was a 21-point lead at half time to the Redbacks.
However, the Saints were looking to close the gap to finish off their home run for 2024, and they were able to deliver by taking the third quarter to generate some real momentum going into the last term, kicking three goals to one to reduce the margin to 10 points.
However, that was realistically as close as the Saints got, with Carisbrook expertly shutting the game down in the last term and keeping scoring to a minimum. Just one goal apiece was the result for the last term, as the Redbacks held on to take a crucial win.
Tom Gardam has been in sensational form for Carisbrook, and again delivered a best-on-ground performance, kicking two goals in the win. The returning Brady Neill, Matt Bilton, Cooper Tatchell, Patrick Van der Pol — who kicked four goals, and Richard Zelencich were also named in the best for the Redbacks, while Leo Fitzgibbon provided support to Van der Pol in kicking three goals.
Trentham badly missed the influence of Joel Cowan and James Regan, but Joel Dovaston picked up the slack to continue what has been an excellent season by being named the Saints’ best player. Sam Kelly, Edward Fanning, Zach Gervasoni, Jake Keogh and Bryce Hinneberg were also named in the best, with Keogh kicking three goals.