Historic Great Southern Football League premiership for Railways after outmuscling Royals in grand final

Railways are celebrating their sixth league premiership in history after upsetting Royals in an absorbing Great Southern Football League grand final in front of thousands at McLean Park on Sunday. The Tigers tasted their first grand final victory since 2013 after a 10-goal second half powered them to a memorable 28-point triumph over their arch rivals. After suffering a heavy defeat at the hands of the Lions in the second semifinal, the Tigers produced an 80-point turnaround as they celebrated their 75th anniversary in style and beat their crosstown rivals for the first time in a GSFL decider. Matt Palfrey won his second Alan Barnett Medal, having previously won the honour in the Tigers 2013 flag triumph, while veteran forward Zak Hortin produced one of his best games on the biggest stage with five majors. The Tigers trailed by three points at half-time but wrestled control of the contest in the middle of the ground early in the third and were clinical with their finishing in front of goals to end a run of three losing grand finals. Hortin kicked four goals in the first term — and it could have been five if he didn’t play on from a set shot as the siren rang out — as the Tigers kept their noses in front after two early Lion goals. The Lions regained control in the second as a third major to dangerous tall forward Hamish McMorran and goals to Seb Stanton and Steven Edwards gave them the lead. The Tigers kicked six goals to two in the third term, including two from Kane Shephard’s boot after he injured a hamstring and was forced to play as deep forward. Shephard extended his side’s three-quarter-time advantage to 28 points early in the last but Jordan Heil answered at the other end. A successful set shot from Coen Jackman pushed the deficit back to 28 points and Jayden Scott made it even more difficult for the Lions when he made it 34 points. Capping a stellar game, where he played mainly as a midfielder, Palfrey kicked a wonderful goal to all but seal victory and put the Tigers 39 points up. The Lions kicked the final two goals of the game but it was too little too late as the Tigers prevailed, 17.10 (112) to 12.12 (84), sparkling jubilant scenes among their supporters in the post-match. In his first season at the helm of the Tigers, Mark Bayliss finished with a flag while Bodhi Stubber won his second premiership medallion but first as captain of the club. “I think it means a lot to the club, it’s the 75th year,” Bayliss said. “At the start of the year to have no coach, they asked me if I would do the job and I was unsure whether I was capable of doing the job because I’d had 10 years out. “When you have a break from footy you sort of lose a little bit of passion. “After taking training for a few weeks I thought “it might be OK” and when I got to the first game and saw the way these boys played I thought ‘I think I can do something here with these guys’. “Just their tenacity to win the contest, we have just gone with momentum and just made sure we were hitting our straps at the right time of the year.” Bayliss said he was out-coached in the second semifinal loss but knew his group could respond. “I’m just proud of my players today, I asked for an effort that had to be unbelievable and I would like to think they got my message of what I wanted out of them and they delivered it,” he said. “I believe we had the best forward line in the competition and the idea was to get in as quick as we can so it was one-on-one contests. “We just had to get the ball forward quick enough and it proves on the scoreboard we kicked straight.” Palfrey finished with 23 disposals and a final-term goal as he changed the game in the middle with brunt clearance work. Hortin had five goals by half-time and was a constant threat in attack for the winners and Shephard was vital with his four majors. Craig Frost and Mitch Green were both superb in the midfield to taste premiership success for the first time with the Tigers and they were also well served by Joel Want, Dylan Schorer and Xavier Brenton-Reed. They lost Harry Hordacre to a hamstring injury and Ryan Davies to concussion. Scott was red carded for striking Lions’ Braden Murphy in the final quarter and there was plenty of feeling with tempers boiling over on more than one occasion. He accepted a two-match suspension. Lions skipper Brayden Parker was terrific in a losing affair, providing great drive from half-back and spent periods in the midfield, and he was well supported by defenders Brett Hooper and Murphy. Ball winner Michael McGlade worked tirelessly across the four quarters but his fellow midfielders were beaten on the day, including Kleemann medallist Cameron Allison. McMorran was a focal point in attack and after three goals in the first half Bodhi Stubber was moved to him to try and quell his influence, while Steven Edwards (two goals) and Corey Ward were also important contributors for the Lions. “It’s good for footy, they haven’t won one for eight years, I think it came down to intent today and want and hunger and I think Railways beat us in a lot of one on ones,” Lions coach Andrew Ruck said. “They jumped us and Zak got off the leash early and we thought from there we were still in the game then we lost Bealy for a half. “We tried to stop that momentum and it didn’t matter what we did. They deserve it, we won’t hide from it.” Stephen Beal was checked for concussion after a hit in the first quarter and did return late in the game but missed vital minutes in the middle period of the game.