SWFL: South Bunbury stun Busselton in three-point second semifinal thriller to progress to grand final

Tyson Lane’s late goal for South Bunbury separated Saturday’s pulsating South West Football League second semifinal, seeing the Tigers beat Busselton by three points at Bovell Park. With only minutes remaining in the contest, the Magpies looked set to progress through to the grand final after Tony Notte — swung forward from the defensive post he had occupied for much of the day — claimed a strong mark and slotted a goal to give them their first lead since the early stages of the second term. But as the day’s heaviest shower began to tumble down, Lane was able to find space in behind the hosts’ defence and produce a perfect finish under immense pressure to put his side back in front, where they remained until the final siren of a 6.12 (48) to 6.9 (45) classic. In conditions more typical of the middle of winter than the start of spring, both teams struggled to produce anything resembling their best football. But the class of Jace Cormack, who capitalised on the industrious work of his teammates further afield to slot three goals, shone through for the winners. Notte, Mitchell Fraser and Jozef Parkinson were among the best for the Magpies, who will now be forced to head to Hands Oval on Sunday for a preliminary final against Bunbury. The teams separated by a solitary point at the final break, but the contest was broken open early in the final term through some individual Cormack brilliance, with the classy veteran spotting up Bodhi Nordahl with an inside-50 kick, doubling back and marking the ball in space and punching his shot through the major opening. But the Magpies were able to produce a near-instant response, winning the ensuing clearance and getting the ball to an unmarked Mitchell Cameron deep in attack. South Bunbury generated some late chances they failed to capitalise on before Matt Jamieson opted to play his trump card, moving Notte into attack. The 323-game WAFL veteran had a near-instant impact, drawing a number of defenders at his first contest to create multiple chances at the fall of the ball, the Tigers were just barely able to stop with some desperate smothers. He showcased his trademark strong hands with his second opportunity to reel in a mark and kicked the goal which set the stage for the blockbuster finish. Earlier, the Magpies had the blustering breeze mostly at their backs in the first term but struggled to capitalise, starting their day with four behinds in a row. After South Bunbury’s Ethan Nordahl slotted a set shot to give his side the day’s first goal, the hosts were able to respond through Parkinson finishing on the run before Ryan Ekert showed his quality by converting a difficult chance after the quarter-time siren. The Tigers took full advantage of their turn kicking with the wind in the second term, with Cormack producing two classy finishes either side of a Kade Wallrodt goal to see them into the lead, which Busselton’s Kiedis Solberg cut back with a goal to snap their run. Conditions which had already proven difficult had another layer of complexity with the day’s first shower tumbling down at the start of the second half, which also brought an uptick in the intensity of the wind. The second half’s first goal looked finally set to come at the 15-minute mark when an errant Tom Gorter kick-in landed in the lap of Ekert, only for his teammates’ overzealous remonstration with the star Tigers defender seeing them concede a free kick. Busselton were at last able to strike when Liam Creighton’s speculative long-range effort took a kind bounce and crossed the goal line, leaving the teams separated by the barest of margins at the final break. Harvey Brunswick Leschenault’s reserves and colts sides ensured their progression to grand final day with a pair of victories in the men’s lower-grades games. The Lions’ Colts continued their unbeaten 2025 season by holding Bunbury without a goal to win by 23 points, before their reserves overcame Carey Park to claim a hard-fought 32-point victory.