Sport
29 August, 2022
Navarre hops into semi final thanks to Cody Driscoll’s 15 goals
NAVARRE 27.15 (177) def DUNOLLY 3.4 (22) Navarre showed that they are capable of doing some serious damage in the race for the premiership by sweeping aside Dunolly by 155 points on Sunday at Princes Park. The Hoppers dominated at every line, and...
NAVARRE 27.15 (177) def DUNOLLY 3.4 (22)
Navarre showed that they are capable of doing some serious damage in the race for the premiership by sweeping aside Dunolly by 155 points on Sunday at Princes Park.
The Hoppers dominated at every line, and Cody Driscoll was able to finish everything off for them, kicking an incredible 15 goals in the win.
For the Eagles, a fairytale season came to a sad end, but there’s no doubt that it’s been a much-improved season, and they’ll be better off for the experience.
However, on Sunday, it was all Navarre as they dominated from the outset. They kicked six unanswered goals in the first quarter to open up a 38-point lead, already almost effectively ending the contest.
To Dunolly’s credit, they were able to enjoy a better quarter in the second, kicking two goals, while restricting Navarre to four goals, but it still wasn’t enough to prevent the Hoppers from taking a 55-point lead at the main change.
The Hoppers put everything together in the second half, kicking eight goals to one in the third quarter to take a 98-point cushion into the final change, before kicking a further nine goals to no score to eventually run out 155-point winners.
Driscoll was able to enjoy 20 shots at goal for the afternoon, and after a slow start, really found his rhythm, and his 15-goal tally took him to 84 for the year. Alongside him, Harry Bigmore, Billy Driscoll, Lachlan Slorach, Jay Moody and Riley Bibby were able to relish the wider expanses of Princes Park.
For Dunolly, co-coach Bailey Goodwin, Joel Fisher, Connor Sheppard, Oscar Keogh, Lachlan Tranter and Mitchell Goodwin were their best performers.
Bill Driscoll was full of praise for Cody after a phenomenal performance in front of goal.
“Cody was fantastic. He missed a few early ones, but converted everything after that. It’s a real testament to him — he was marking everything,” he said.
The Hoppers are now looking ahead to the challenge of facing minor premier Trentham on the rebound, but Billy isn’t taking too many chances with Navarre’s form.
“We’ll take confidence out of today, but we have to respect Trentham — they have been the benchmark team for two years. They’ll bounce back, and we’ll have our work cut out and it will certainly be a tough game,” he said.
Billy also says it’s a testament to the evenness of the top five that they feel they can win the premiership despite finishing in fifth position and having to win four games to take their first flag since 2016.
“We always knew we were thereabouts, it’s anyone’s on their day. It’s good to see that it is that close and tight at the top,” he said.
“We will have to do it the hard way, but it is pleasing to see all our lines playing well, and it’s good to have our players on the field at the right time of the year, which has hurt us throughout the year, and it’s always been a challenge over COVID as well.”